TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Maple Leafs practiced in Toronto on Thursday ahead of Friday's game against the Flyers.

- The loss to Los Angeles marked the first time that the Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Zach Hyman trio had been separated for an extended period. Those three players have now gone seven games without a goal. "I feel like I'm playing well," said Matthews, who has fired 28 shots on net during the drought. "I feel like I'm creating opportunities, creating scoring chances, so it's only a matter of time before they start going in. It's nice to not always be switching it around and everything. Everyone's really comfortable with each other." Head coach Mike Babcock fully expected the teenager to go through some scoring slumps this season. "We could put him on the wing with a really good player and it'd be way easier for him, but that's not what we want to do with him and that's not what he wants to do. It's way harder to be a dominant centreman in the league at 19 than it is a winger, for sure."

- Matthews said he went through a similar dry spell last season while playing for Zurich in the Swiss league. The only difference is last year he felt he was playing badly whereas right now he feels like he's playing well. "Going into the season you knew it was going to happen," Matthews said. "I mean, everybody goes through them, it doesn't matter if you're Patrick Kane or Sidney Crosby, everybody has these slumps, so it's just a matter of working hard. You'll get out of it." Matthews is tied for third in rookie scoring with 11 points, just one behind Nylander. "I look at it, I think they have 12 or 11 points or something like that, so I think they're doing pretty good," Babcock said. "But there's going to be ebbs and flows in the league and you just want your ups to be a lot longer than your downs." The longest drought for Matthews last season was seven games so this current stretch matches his career-long slump in professional hockey. But Hyman doesn't sense any frustration from Matthews, who leads all rookies with 54 shots on net. "He’s hit, I don't know how many posts and crossbars. He's got such a great shot so if he keeps shooting it like he is it's going to go in the net. He's confident. He keeps shooting. He's not getting deterred by it."

- “It's fun playing with those guys," said Hyman, who has now gone 12 straight games without a point. "A lot of chances so I got to get on the scoresheet for sure, but all that's important is the team winning … I mean, you can't force the puck in the net. It's eventually going to go in and we're trying to keep doing what we're doing." Hyman leads all Leafs players in Corsi For% this season (54.5 per cent) and Babcock has constantly lauded the gritty winger for getting the puck back for Matthews and Nylander as well as creating chaos in front of the opposing goalie. 

- Midway through Tuesday's loss, Babcock juggled his lines in an attempt to create a spark. But at practice the last two days everything has been back to normal. "If I were to have liked anything I did in the game then we might have done it again," the coach explained. "Combinations have stayed together longer probably this year than I've ever had before just because guys are suited for certain spots better and we don't have enough other pieces to interchange with them."

- Just like the forward lines, the defence pairings remained intact. That means Frank Corrado, who has played in just 39 of 95 Leafs games since being picked up off waivers from Vancouver, will continue to wait. "It's obviously a little frustrating right now," the 23-year-old said. "It's one of those things. You kind of wait and hope your time's going to come. There's nothing I can do about it. Just be a good pro, come to the rink and work hard in practice and be ready when the opportunity comes." Corrado didn't play until Dec. 15 last year and it doesn't appear like he's going to get in the lineup any time soon, barring an injury. Babcock pointed out that the addition of righties Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Carrick pushed Corrado down the depth chart. "If you're working in your job and someone else comes in and is a little smoother at it, guess what happens to you," Babcock explained. "So, it's the same thing here. But, what Frankie's done is he's done a real good job being a pro, getting bigger and stronger this summer and when he gets his opportunity he's got to seize it." Roman Polak is the other right-handed defenceman on the Leafs roster.

- Matt Hunwick was partnered with Corrado at practice. It was the second straight day the 31-year-old skated with the team. "We think he's just about ready to be cleared," Babcock said. "We'll see how he does tomorrow morning." Hunwick has missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury. 

- Babcock was in good spirits on Thursday starting his media session with a joke about Wednesday's power outage. "Who's into investigative journalism here?" the coach asked reporters. "Here's what I came up with, because I couldn't understand why the lights went out." Babcock proceeded to note that Polak has a buddy who works at Hydro One. "What he did was he phoned him in the morning and said, 'I know Babs is going to be a little crazy today so when it gets to be around 40, 43 minutes [into practice] lights gotta go out.' Good veteran move by Polak."

- Babcock also took a swipe at the media stateside. A reporter noted that Babcock wasn't using Morgan Rielly on the power play even though he had previously said the 22-year-old defenceman would light it up on the man advantage. "Well, I never said, 'Light it up.' That’s what you said," Babcock pointed out with a smile. "I just watched that U.S. election. You know how the media sometimes doesn't get it right? So, we got to get it right every day."

* Frederik Andersen starts Friday against the Flyers. 

Lines at practice: 

Forwards

Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner
Komarov-Kadri-Brown
Martin-Smith-Soshnikov 
Holland, Griffith 

Defence

Rielly-Zaitsev
Marincin-Carrick
Gardiner-Polak
Hunwick-Corrado

Goalies

Andersen
Enroth