Injuries catch up to Leafs, but help is on the way

The Maple Leafs lost 5-1 to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. Thursday is a day off for the team. 

The Leafs failed to score at even strength during Wednesday's 5-1 loss to the Panthers while seeing another player, left winger Bobby McMann, exit the lineup due to injury. McMann, who had been playing on the top line, became the eighth forward forced to the sidelines.

"I mean, we're missing half our team up front, man," said winger Mitch Marner when asked about the struggle to generate offence. "You know, it's tough. We got a lot of guys coming in trying to jump up in some roles. They've done a great job. I think we've done a great job keeping pucks out every night at five-on-five."

The Leafs have allowed a league-low nine goals in 5-on-5 play in the nine games that star centre Auston Matthews has missed with an undisclosed upper-body issue. But they have managed to score just nine goals at 5-on-5, which ranks dead last during this stretch. McMann leads the team with three even-strength goals since Nov. 4.

"Obviously another guy that's done a lot for this team recently, 5-on-5 too, with his speed and play up the ice," said Marner, who scored a power-play goal on Wednesday. "So, never good to see another guy go down."

Craig Berube described McMann as being "day-to-day right now" while noting further evaluation needs to take place. 

"It is frustrating, but hopefully, we get some guys coming back next game," the coach said. 

Matthews practised with the team on Tuesday and skated again on Wednesday morning. 

"He looks great out there," said winger Steven Lorentz. "When he's got the puck, even at practice, he's making plays like he's same old same. That would be a huge boost, obviously, but I guess we'll take it day-by-day and see what happens."

The Leafs will hold a practice on Friday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale before heading to Tampa for a showdown with the Lightning on Saturday night. 

Matthew Knies, who has not played since suffering an upper-body injury on Nov. 20, is also on the trip. The winger practised in a red no-contact sweater on Tuesday before skating in a regular sweater on Wednesday. Knies is eligible to be activated off the injured reserve for Saturday's game.  

The Leafs have managed to string wins together despite all the injuries. Toronto had won four straight and seven of eight before the setback in Sunrise. 

Max Domi (lower body), Max Pacioretty (lower body), David Kampf (lower body) and Calle Jarnkrok (groin) are all currently unavailable due to injury. Ryan Reaves has served three games of his five-game suspension.

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Regardless of the injury issues, Berube wants to see more from his forwards. 

"We can do a better job of getting to the net front, creating more opportunities around the net, and scoring some greasy goals," he said. "I don't think we are hard enough around the net. I don't think that we are working hard enough to get to the net."

Berube pointed out that the team's defence did a good job getting shots through on Wednesday night. Morgan Rielly actually led the team with four shots on net in the game. Conor Timmins and Oliver Ekman-Larsson each fired three on target as well. 

"We got to be up the ice more," said Marner. "We got to be up in the forecheck more. We got to get around the net more, tip some more pucks for our D. They did a good job getting pucks through, we just weren't there enough."

Of course, the opponent plays a part in that. 

"Got to credit them," said Lorentz. "We had some good shifts and shifts in the O-zone, but that's a team that's consistent. They swallow you up everywhere you go. There's always a guy on you and they got another guy waiting to bump the puck to when they take it from you."

"We played fast from the get-go," Panthers winger Sam Reinhart told reporters. "We were quick on the reads and that limits the time and space for them."

The Panthers entered Wednesday's clash with the Leafs on a four-game losing streak. Paul Maurice put his players through an intense practice on Tuesday and was happy with the response.

"They had a bunch of guys out of their lineup, but they won a whole bunch of games without those guys," the Panthers coach said. "They've been a good team, so it was a good, solid home win. Most importantly, we got the priority right and it was evident." 

"We've been trying to find our identity back," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "It all comes from hard work, and being simple, being hard, being physical. That's our game and we did that pretty well, especially in the first, and then kept doing that and finished strong."

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All the injuries up front has opened the door for some of Toronto's top prospects to get a look, including Nikita Grebenkin. The feisty winger took a costly boarding penalty in the first period, but got a pass from the coach. 

"It was a tough call on him early on," Berube said. "I didn't think it was a penalty. That happens. He is a physical player, so he is going to take penalties at times. I thought he competed hard and tried to do what he does as a player."

Grebenkin, a fifth-round pick in 2022, replaced fellow American Hockey League call-up Alex Nylander on the top power-play unit midway through the game. He didn't get an assist, but Grebenkin tied up the stick of Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad on the play that led to Marner's goal. 

"I put him on the power play for a bit, trying to get some net front [action] and maybe get something around the net there," Berube said. "He was fine for me."

Grebenkin made a nice pass to set up Marlies-turned-Leafs linemate Fraser Minten, who hit the post in the first period. 

The 21-year-old Russian, who was playing his third NHL game, also saw some shifts with Marner and John Tavares on the top line after McMann got hurt. 

"He plays a lot of energy every night," Marner said. "Gets up in the forecheck, you know, gets around that net. I think all the young guys have got great energy."

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The Leafs scored on the power play late in the second period, but only after allowing a short-handed goal by Reinhart. 

"Obviously, the short-handed goal hurts a lot," Rielly said. "That's entirely on the power play."

Marner scored shortly after on the same power play, but the Panthers headed to the intermission leading 3-1.

Toronto finished the night one for three on the man advantage. 

"The first power play, they moved it okay, but we didn't generate anything off of it," Berube said. "We didn't handle the pressure very well."

"I thought our first power play was great," Marner said. "Moving the puck, a lot of chances. Kind of got away from things in the next couple. So, we'll talk about it, try to figure it out, but I don't think we need to change much. But sometimes that happens [with] a little wrinkle, and we got to do a better job defending."

The Leafs have converted on 11 of 34 chances in the nine games that Matthews has missed. They lead the league in power-play percentage (32.4) in this stretch.

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Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz allowed four goals on 23 shots. It was his lowest save percentage (.826) in a game this season. 

"Emotions were a little high," the former Panther said of his return to Florida. "Obviously we would like a better outcome, especially early on for me. Thought I could have made one of those saves and kept the game a little bit tighter."

In particular, Stolarz felt he could have had the Barkov power-play goal, which opened the scoring.

"Instead of going to the post, maybe go on the outside," he said. "So just little things like that. I felt better as the game went along, and got my rhythm back a little bit."

Stolarz was playing for the first time since Nov. 16. It was his longest layoff between games this season.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 of 24 shots to defeat his former backup. 

"You look down at the other end and Bobby was kind of making some saves to keep them with a two-goal lead," Stolarz said. "I think that was the difference."

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Stolarz, Lorentz and Ekman-Larsson each received their own video tribute in the first period.

"That was pretty special," Lorentz said with emotion in his voice. "I obviously didn't play a whole lot in the regular season, but every single guy had a part of that team, or a part of that win. From staff to trainers to people behind the scenes, it takes a whole organization to be able to accomplish something like that ... but obviously the result was what we wanted, so it kind of put a little dampening on that." 

"This was the one you wanted," said Stolarz. "You wanted this one, so obviously it puts a little damper on it. But it's always something that you'll remember for the rest of your life."

The trio of Panthers-turned-Leafs also received their Stanley Cup rings on Wednesday morning. 

"I took a quick glance," Rielly said with a small smile. "Not bad."

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Lines in Wednesday's game: 

McMann - Tavares - Marner 
Robertson - Holmberg - W. Nylander 
Grebenkin - Minten - A. Nylander 
Steeves - Dewar - Lorentz

McCabe - Tanev 
Rielly - Ekman-Larsson 
Benoit - Timmins

Stolarz starts 
Woll