'It's a big loss': Leafs place Knies on injured reserve
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The Maple Leafs practised at the Ford Performance Centre in Toronto on Friday.
The Maple Leafs placed winger Matthew Knies on injured reserve on Friday, which means he will be out at least a week with an upper-body injury.
"He's improving which is good," said coach Craig Berube. "If he keeps progressing in the right direction then, you know, possibility [to play again] down the road here soon."
Knies left Wednesday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights after absorbing a hard hit from defenceman Zach Whitecloud in the second period.
Knies, who is third on the team with eight goals, will miss at least Sunday's game against the Utah Hockey Club and Wednesday's game against the Florida Panthers. Knies, 22, is in the middle of a break-out campaign, which has seen him play in the top-six all year and log minutes on both special teams units.
"Being around him the last couple of days, he's been in good spirits and pretty positive," said centre John Tavares. "Hopefully it's a quick turnaround. It's a big loss for us, but we're obviously missing a few guys right now."
Toronto is down seven regular forwards with Auston Matthews (upper body, out since Nov. 3), Max Domi (lower body, out since Wednesday), David Kampf (lower body, out since Nov. 16), Max Pacioretty (lower body, out since Nov. 9), Calle Jarnkrok (groin and sports hernia surgery, out since pre-season) and Ryan Reaves (suspended, out since Wednesday) also sidelined.
None of the injured players skated on Friday. Berube noted that Domi has not officially been ruled out of Sunday's game.
"I feel like this is the first time that it's been like this in my time here," said winger Mitch Marner of all the injuries. "People need to step up. I think a lot of guys have stepped up. So, just keep trusting the system and doing what you can do."
The Leafs are 6-1-0 since Matthews, the team's captain and top-line centre, was forced from the lineup with a nagging undisclosed issue. Toronto has surged into top spot in the Atlantic Division despite the full infirmary.
"The guys have bought into the system and I think we're doing a good job," Berube said. "I get the injuries and everything but everybody goes through that throughout the year and you've got to try to find ways to still win games and we're doing that."
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At Friday's practice, Nick Robertson took Knies' spot on the second line beside Pontus Holmberg and William Nylander.
"Just playing fast and keeping it simple," Robertson said of his mindset in that spot. "Let Willy do his thing and shoot the puck when I get a chance."
Robertson has just one goal in 17 games this season. He has gone 10 straight games without a point.
"He's getting some looks," Berube said. "He had a couple last game. He's just got to keep working. He's working hard. He's skating and using his speed ... with Willy, you know, [if] he gets in a good area of the ice and gets open, there's a guy that can find him. He's got to put a couple in and get some confidence."
Robertson had a couple great chances on Wednesday, including a one-time shot that was denied by Adin Hill.
"I thought I was going to put it in last game when there was a scrum and there was a 2-on-1, but it is what it is," the 23-year-old said. "I just got to keep plugging away, not worrying about the past, and just kind of taking it game by game."
After finishing seven straight games with just one shot on net, Robertson has landed multiple shots on net – five in total – in each of the last two games.
Robertson scored 14 goals in 56 games last season. Is the 5-foot-9 winger struggling to adapt to the grind game that Berube wants the Leafs playing?
"It's been fine," said Robertson, who has generated just one rush chance so far in 5-on-5 play after registering 10 last year. "Slashing across as a winger, I mean, I've had some offence through there. I haven't noticed too much [difference]."
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The Leafs signed winger Alex Nylander to a contract on Friday. The younger brother of William Nylander is off to a strong start this season in the American Hockey League where he has eight goals and four assists in 14 games with the Toronto Marlies.
During training camp, Alex revealed he turned down NHL offers in the summer and signed an AHL deal in Toronto, because he hoped to earn an opportunity to play with his brother.
"Playing together on the same team would be amazing," Alex told TSN in August.
Now, that dream is a reality.
The siblings last played together at the 2016 World Juniors, but after they linked up on Team Sweden's opening goal in the first game, William was knocked out of the tournament with a concussion.
William, 28, and Alex, 26, skate together during the summer back home in Stockholm.
"We're kind of similar players," Alex said. "We both like to hold onto the pucks and make plays from there. I kind of know what he's going to try to do. He's so good so he can just find you whenever. Our chemistry is good."
Alex had been playing on a line with Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin before they were called up by the Leafs earlier this week. William assisted on Minten's first career NHL goal in Wednesday's game.
"They have a lot of similarities with their style," Minten observed. "You can tell they've skated, trained together for a long time. They both are super smooth at cutting out of corners, holding onto pucks, and both shoot the puck really good. They're both really talented."
The brothers are living with each other in Toronto this season.
"We comment on each other's game and how we can get better and what we did good and keeping each other happy," Alex said earlier this month. "It's been good. It's the same as we are basically in the summer, because we are with each other almost every day in the summer."
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After Knies left Wednesday's game, Minten took his spot on the top power-play unit.
"I like his puck skills around the net and his size [6-foot-2] around the net," said Berube. "And, again, he's got a real good hockey IQ."
Minten's smarts allowed him to slide into the third-line centre spot and make an immediate impact. The 20-year-old rookie received the team's player-of-the-game belt from Marner after the game.
"He played a hell of a game for us," said Marner, who pointed out Minten also contributed on the penalty kill.
Minten got a four-game look in the NHL last season and lived with the Tavares family before being returned to the Western Hockey League. He made a big impression on Tavares' young sons.
"They were really happy for him," Tavares said. "Yeah, really, really happy. It's a special moment, your first NHL goal. Just great to see how it kind of came together, how he was kind of on his own there when he was celebrating. Stick was touching the rafters, I thought ... It wasn't just the goal, it was the all-around game. I thought it was really, really solid."
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Tavares picked up two assists on Wednesday and now has eight points in the seven games since Matthews has been out.
"I like to think it's business as usual," the 34-year-old said. "I think our record's gotta be pretty good with him in the lineup too. He's obviously a hell of a player and we miss him, and we want him back as soon as possible. I know he's doing everything he can to do that. No one's going to replace him or fill his shoes."
But Tavares is filling in as the top-line centre right now, which means tough matchups every night. On Wednesday, Tavares duelled with Jack Eichel and helped keep Vegas' leading scorer off the board.
"He's a very difficult player to defend," Tavares acknowledged. "Not just his ability to create offence with his hockey IQ, hockey sense, shooting ability, but just the type of speed that he has, the way he can change gears and the length and the size."
Shots were even – 3-3 – in the nearly nine minutes Tavares and Eichel shared the ice at even strength, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
"Not an easy matchup, but it's a group of five out there, including your goalie as well, that have to make it hard on him and make him have to come through many, many layers," Tavares noted. "You just go out there and do your job and, like I said, it's a group effort."
"We're trying to be smart with our puck play," Marner said of Toronto's top line, which also includes Bobby McMann. "Not giving up odd-man rushes and stuff like that. We've done a really good job of being patient and sticking with the game plan and trusting we'll get our looks. And I think we've done a good job of not missing when we have had our looks."
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Toronto's top line was held off the scoresheet on Wednesday night.
"I think we can do a better job of maintaining O-zone time," Marner noted.
That could be said for the whole team. The Leafs rank 16th in goals per game (3.05) and are tied for 18th in total 5-on-5 goals. Last year, Toronto ranked second in goals per game (3.63) and first in 5-on-5 goals.
With the light schedule this week, the Leafs have two full practices between games, including Friday's session.
"You work on different things that you haven't probably touched," Berube said. "We touched a number of different areas on the offensive side of things that we haven't touched a lot on this year at practice. It's been more on the other side. Today we got to work on more of the offensive side of stuff, which was good for the guys. Tomorrow we'll get back to the normal stuff."
The Leafs also worked on 6-on-5 and 5-on-6 plays at Friday's practice.
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Defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson missed practice due to illness, but is expected to play on Sunday, per Berube.
Defenceman Philippe Myers was recalled from the Marlies where he played three games as part of a conditioning loan.
Chris Tanev and his wife have welcomed their second child, a daughter, into the world. The defenceman received stick taps and cheers from teammates when Berube made the announcement before practice.
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Lines at Friday's practice:
McMann - Tavares - Marner
Robertson - Holmberg - Nylander
Lorentz - Minten - Grebenkin
Steeves - Dewar - Reaves
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Hakanpää
Benoit - Timmins
Myers
Stolarz
Woll