Matthews, Marner look to turn minuses into motivation against Canucks

The Toronto Maple Leafs skated at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday prior to their game against the Vancouver Canucks. 

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were on the ice for all six goals the Carolina Hurricanes scored during Thursday's 6-3 loss in Raleigh. 

"One's a shorthanded goal, one's an empty net," said coach Craig Berube. "Sometimes you're out there and you're a minus-five, or whatever you are, and you got nothing to do with it. I mean, there was a couple on line changes where they're just getting out there and it's in the net. There's a lot of things that go into it. They just got to move on from it." 

The Leafs will keep their top line – Matthews between Marner and Matthew Knies – together for Saturday's game against the Vancouver Canucks. And while Berube defended Matthews and Marner, he's also expecting a response. 

"They got to be better too, though," he said. "There's plays that we talked about and went over today that we got to be tighter and we got to have better sticks and better awareness of positioning and people on the other team in the defensive zone."

"You've just got to learn from it and do better the next one," Matthews said following the game on Thursday. 

Thursday's minus-six performance was a career-low mark for Matthews and Marner, who had never even finished a game minus-five previously. 

"Just a couple breakdowns," Matthews said. "They capitalized on some of their chances and just gained momentum on their side. And, obviously, didn't do a very good job of keeping the puck out of our net at key times of the game. Sometimes that's the way the game goes."

Toronto's top line had been rolling since Matthews returned from an injury absence – eight goals combined in three games – and the star centre didn't think it was all bad in Raleigh. 

"We had good sequences of the game," said Matthews, who scored a power-play goal to extend his point streak to four games. "And then, you know, just like I said, little breakdowns, little poor execution that they obviously capitalized on."

Matthews lost the head-to-head battle against last year's Selke Trophy runner-up Jordan Staal, who scored a hat trick. 

"I'm sure if you ask them that was not a fun night for the other guys to play against and that's what Jordo does," said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour. 

"They are hard to play against, heavy, and above you all the time," Berube credited. "They make you work for everything. They ended up capitalizing on a couple of goals. It is difficult, but we just had too many breakdowns. We have to clean them up."

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Berube felt the Leafs spent too much time in their own end and didn't defend the slot as well as usual. 

"We need to kill more plays and come up with more pucks," he said. "We didn't. It kind of got away from us."

The absence of Jake McCabe, who will miss a third straight game with an upper-body injury, was certainly felt. The hard-nosed defenceman resumed skating on Saturday morning. 

"I don't really have a timeline," Berube said. "Hopefully it's not too long. We'll see how it keeps going, but he feels good and he's doing well. That's the best update I can give you on him."

McCabe and Chris Tanev have formed one of the stingiest pairs in the NHL this season. In McCabe's absence, Tanev has mostly played with Oliver Ekman-Larsson. That duo will reunite on Saturday after being split up in Raleigh. 

"They've been good when they've been together," Berube said. "Both are responsible defensively and have good sticks and kill plays low. OEL, he's got a little more freedom to get up into play and do his thing. He can get up into play and make plays and get involved offensively. They're a good shutdown pair, in my opinion, and they need to do a good job. They got some good players over there, so we're going to have to be aware of it and shut them down."

The Canucks got centre Elias Pettersson back from injury for Friday's game against the Hurricanes. 

"Extremely skilled and dynamic player, very crafty," said Tanev, who started his career in Vancouver. "We'll have to watch him tonight ... He'll give them a big boost for sure."

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Due to snowfall in Raleigh, the Canucks were unable to fly to Toronto after their 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes. The team finally landed in Toronto shortly after noon on Saturday. Can the Leafs take advantage of a tired opponent? 

"We just got to focus on us and our game," Berube stressed. "I mean, I get it. Tough travel for them, played last night, and I get all that, but let's just throw it out the window. Let's focus on us. We're going to focus on what we need to do better from last game."

Game-day travel doesn't necessarily lead to bad results. Tanev's Dallas Stars had to travel into high-altitude Denver on the day of a game last season. 

"We played really well," Tanev recalled. "I think sometimes it's just you show up and don't think and you're playing. But I mean, obviously it's not ideal to travel the day of the game. Everyone has their routines and everything so that can throw that for a loop."

Berube didn't seem all that pleased with how the Leafs looked at the morning skate. 

"Let's f--king go!" he barked at one point. 

The coach sees plenty of room for improvement on Saturday night. 

"Check, play defence, keep the puck out of our net," the coach rhymed off. "We didn't do a good enough job last game with that. Plenty of chances to score, scored goals, but we gave up too much in the game."

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Dennis Hildeby will get the start for the Leafs. He stopped 30 of 32 shots to earn a win over the Philadelphia Flyers in his last appearance on Sunday. 

Joseph Woll, who allowed five goals on 33 shots on Thursday, will get a rest. 

"Wollsy's played a lot," Berube noted. "I was just thinking ahead too with Dallas coming in, and I liked Dennis' last game."

Hildeby is 3-1-0 with an .892 save percentage this season, which is his first in the NHL. 

Berube pointed out that it's been a busy week for the Leafs with the annual Mentors Trip featuring travel to Philadelphia and Raleigh. The Leafs also have games on Tuesday (vs. Dallas Stars), Thursday (vs. New Jersey Devils) and Saturday (at Montreal Canadiens) next week.  

Woll took the blame for Thursday's loss. 

"It was a pretty evenly matched game at the end of the day," he said. "I thought their goalie outplayed me a bit and I think that's the difference."

Carolina's Pyotr Kochetkov allowed three goals on 33 shots on Thursday. Woll matched a season high by allowing five.  

"He probably wants some back, but he has played some real good hockey for us," Berube said. "He made some real good saves, too. I am sure he wants a couple of the goals back, but he has been battling for us and playing well."

The game-winning goal by Jackson Blake beat Woll five-hole. 

"I don't necessarily think it's the worst goal in the world," Woll said. "I'd like to have it back, yeah. But, you know, I'd probably like to have all the goals back in every game. It was a good shot and he beat me."

Woll was playing for the fifth time in 10 days. With Anthony Stolarz out, he is playing more than usual. 

"I'm enjoying getting to play a lot," he said. 

"He has been fine with it," said Berube. "I don't see him getting tired or anything like that. He wants the net. He has done a good job."

Woll has already made 20 starts this season. His career high of 23 starts was set last season. 

Stolarz is close to getting back on the ice as he works his way back from a knee injury. 

"Stolarz will be on his own for a bit, but I expect that soon," Berube said. "Like maybe this [coming] week, I hope that he can get on the ice and do some things."

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William Nylander got three clean looks – a 2-on-1 rush and two breakaways – in the first 10 minutes of Thursday's game. 

"Didn't know really what was happening there," Brind'Amour said while shaking his head. "It was beer-league hockey ... one of the best players in the world and here's a breakaway. Here's another one. That was hard to watch, I'll be honest."

Nylander hit the post on his first chance before being stopped on a backhand deke on the second one. On the third opportunity, Nylander decided to shoot and finally scored. 

"Just had some more speed and went in and just ripped it," he said.

The goal snapped a season long eight-game goal drought. It had also been four games since he recorded a point. Before the game, Berube noted that Nylander looked like he had lost some confidence.  

"It was going to happen eventually," Nylander downplayed after the game. "It's really no worries."

In a meeting on Thursday morning, Berube urged Nylander to work his way through the slump and focus on picking up the pace of his game. 

"I just got to simplify," Nylander said. "Get back to the basics sometimes when you're not feeling the puck the way you usually are."

Despite the dry spell, Nylander is still tied for fourth in the league with 24 goals. 

"He was way better," Berube said of Thursday's effort. "He had a lot of opportunities. He skated and worked. It was good to see."

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The coach didn't like the effort by Nylander, Matthews and Marner on the play that led to Carolina's shorthanded goal in the second period. 

"We could've defended it, to be honest with you," Berube said. "We have to be harder there in the neutral zone on that play. The guy is on his backhand. We just have to take away the pass. That's it.

Nylander lost a puck battle in the neutral zone, which created the 2-on-1 chance. Marner allowed a pass from Jordan Martinook to go through his legs to Staal, who scored. 

"They've gotten some nice bounces," Nylander said. "But we've gotten some sh--tty bounces, I guess. I mean, what are you going to do, that happens."

Berube kept the top unit, which featured five forwards, on the ice and Matthews immediately responded with a goal. 

"There are always going to be concerns with five forwards on the power play at times," Berube said on Thursday. "We will see what happens, but I liked the power play in general. They got us a goal and had some good looks on the next one. They did some real good things, but we just have to clean up the mistakes. Too loose."

Marner has actually taken shifts as a defenceman in recent seasons under former coach Sheldon Keefe, who also experimented with a five-forward alignment. 

"With Mitchy back there, you know, he's extremely good on the back end," said Matthews. "You've got a lot of trust in him. But, I mean, it doesn't matter who's back there, you've got to get back and help out."

At Saturday's skate, defenceman Morgan Rielly was back with the top unit with Knies returning to the second group. 

"We got scored on the other night," Berube explained. "Five forwards is tricky. Teams are going to look at that and they're going to attack all the time on it. You know, that's going to be their mindset. It's not that I don't like five forwards. They move the puck well in zone and do some real good things. I don't like when it goes the other way."

The Canucks only have one shorthanded goal this season.

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Max Pacioretty will draw back in after sitting out Thursday's game as a healthy scratch. 

"Just keep going," said the left winger, who has gone five games without a point. "I like where I'm at ... so just keep building my game. I have a good opportunity tonight, and hopefully I can improve my game."

Pacioretty, who is the team's second oldest forward at 36, skated beside Nylander and John Tavares on the second line on Saturday morning. 

Berube noted that the veteran forward understands that he may be rested at times throughout the season. 

"I think that conversation happened before he was signed," the coach said. "Situations might come up where maybe he's not going to play all the time ... but he's very good about it. He's a good pro."

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Lines at Saturday's skate: 

Knies - Matthews - Marner 
Pacioretty - Tavares - Nylander 
McMann - Domi - Robertson 
Dewar - Kampf - Lorentz 
Reaves, Holmberg 

Ekman-Larsson - Tanev 
Rielly - Myers 
Benoit - Timmins 
Rifai 

Hildeby 
Woll

Power play units at Saturday's skate: 

QB: Rielly 
Flanks: Matthews, Nylander 
Bumper: Marner 
Net front: Tavares 

QB: Ekman-Larsson 
Flanks: Domi, Robertson/Pacioretty 
Bumper: McMann 
Net front: Knies