Marner steps up for Leafs with Matthews in 'holding pattern'
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Leafs coach Craig Berube held a media availability at Ford Performance Centre on Monday.
Auston Matthews remains off the ice and will miss a seventh straight game on Wednesday, Leafs coach Craig Berube confirmed on Monday.
"It's a little bit of a holding pattern, but he's not getting worse," Berube said. "So that's a good thing. It just takes time. It's just taking time. It's taking long, but it is what it is."
Matthews is dealing with an undisclosed upper-body issue, which initially popped up during training camp. The Leafs centre has not skated since Nov. 10. He last played on Nov. 3.
Matthews scored five goals and added six assists in 13 games to start his first season as the team's captain.
"He's doing what he needs to do to get back in the lineup and get healthy," Berube said. "Our team needs to just push on without him right now."
The Leafs are 5-1-0 since Matthews exited the lineup, but even-strength offence has been hard to come by. Toronto has scored just six goals in 5-on-5 play in this stretch, which ranks 30th in the NHL entering Monday's slate of games.
"The 5-on-5 offensive production is more, for me, about our forecheck and disrupting more plays on our forecheck and getting pucks back," Berube said. "Right now, I think we're a little bit slow at, if we get pucks back, quick-strike plays, [or] whatever the play may be."
With only two home games on the schedule this week – Wednesday against Vegas and Sunday against Utah – Berube will have a rare window of in-season practice time to get things going.
"We need to do a better job of disrupting more plays on our forecheck and getting the puck back," Berube said. "We were doing a real good job of it for a while this year, and our expected goals were good. Like, our chances were better and that's what's missing right now in our game. We're a little bit slow, whether it's through transition or breaking a puck out, and it's like a lot of one-man forechecks. We need more guys involved."
Berube opted to keep the players off the ice on Monday.
"It's been a tough schedule," the coach noted. "A lot of back-to-backs, three in fours, a lot of games. Guys need to rest, and guys need to heal up a little bit."
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Mitch Marner leads the Leafs with 10 points in the six games that Matthews, his long-time linemate, has missed.
"Mitch has been a real good player all year in all areas of the game," Berube said. "PK, power play, 5-on-5, whatever we ask him to do, he's doing it."
That includes working overtime.
Marner made a great defensive play to break up a 2-on-1 rush by Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid in overtime on Saturday night before scoring on a 2-on-1 rush the other way.
"Those are games you kind of live for," Marner said.
With 18 assists, Marner has 10 more helpers than any other teammate this season. But the star winger decided to call his own number on the overtime rush with John Tavares.
"I thought he was passing it," said winger Matthew Knies with a smile. "I thought everyone [did]. That's why he's a dual threat. He shoots the puck so well, too. It's kind of hard to keep him off the scoresheet."
Marner has consistently spoke about wanting to be more of a shooting threat. Again, prior to this season, he brought that up. But Marner scored just twice in the first 14 games while registering only 36 shots on target (2.6 per game).
With Saturday's goal, Marner has now lit the lamp in four of the last five games, although he's not shooting much more. Marner has landed 14 shots on net in the last five games (2.8 per outing).
"I guess just getting it off the stick quickly," Marner said of his goal rush. "Finding my spots."
Marner's average last season was 2.6 shots per game.
"He's a heck of a playmaker," Berube said. "So, I understand why he doesn't shoot more at times. But when he has the opportunities in good spots, he should shoot for sure."
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Marner's line, with Tavares and Bobby McMann, was matched up against McDavid all night.
"It's probably the hardest challenge in the entire NHL right now," Marner said. "So, just try to stay above him. You just got to know you're going to stay patient all game because if you cheat, it's usually going to end up in the back of the net. It's not just a one-guy thing, though. I think, as a five-man unit, we did a pretty good job."
McDavid scored on the power play and assisted on a 6-on-5 goal, but finished the night a season-worst minus-three. Marner, meanwhile, was plus-three in Toronto's 4-3 win.
Marner forced a McDavid turnover on the play that led to McMann's first of two goals on Saturday.
"He's so good at reading the play all the time, anticipating, knowing where the puck's going," McMann gushed. "And that's just who he is, and sometimes you take it for granted."
After Ryan Reaves was assessed a five-minute major in the second period, Marner played a key role in killing off the penalty. He logged a team high 24 minutes.
"It's just another day for Mitch Marner," said goalie Anthony Stolarz. "He's a great two-way player and someone that we appreciate. You watch his game, the way he goes up and down the ice and gives his all, and I'm happy to see him get rewarded with that goal."
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The NHL's Department of Player Safety suspended Reaves five games for a hit to the head on Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.
"It's tough," Berube said. "I mean, it's a lot. But, at the same time, I get it, too. They've come down hard on hits to the head. It's not like Reavo tried to hit him in the head. It was just a tough play."
Reaves had a hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Sunday.
"Reaves mistimes this play, choosing an angle of approach that cuts across the front of Nurse, missing his core and making his head the main point of contact," the Department of Player Safety said in its video explaining the length of the suspension. "And while we understand that Nurse is in the process of playing the puck, he does not materially change the position of his head or body just prior to contact in a way that contributes to the head being the main point of contact."
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters in Montreal that Nurse is expected to miss five to 10 days.
"It's a dangerous play," Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins told reporters on Saturday night. "He's got to know that Nursey doesn't see him coming and choose the right path there, and he doesn't."
Reaves has been suspended three times previously, including twice for hits to the head. He has also been fined twice. This is his first suspension since the 2021 playoffs.
"He's upset that he put his team down," Berube said. "But, at the same time, his type of game, sometimes things happen. It's not like he's a dirty player. He's not a dirty player. He's a clean player, in my opinion, for his role. And there was no intention of him doing that. It just happened."
Reaves has been credited with 44 hits this season, which is tied for most on the Leafs.
"It's an unfortunate situation," Knies said on Saturday. "Getting to know Reavo, it's definitely not his intention to hurt anybody. Plays like that happen."
"I don't think he was trying to finish high like that," McMann added. "I know he wasn't. He's just playing it hard and trying to get through guys, trying to win a hockey game, and sometimes you clip a guy the wrong way."
Reaves is eligible to return on Dec. 4 when the Leafs host the Nashville Predators.
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Matthews is not playing right now, but his presence is still being felt throughout the organization. After scoring in a shootout on Saturday, Marlies centre Fraser Minten revealed that his move was inspired by the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner.
"I've seen Auston do that move a few times," said Minten, who played four games with the Leafs last season. "He comes down that side with a lot of speed and then goalies are kind of drifting back. It's hard for them to push laterally, so they open up. I just tried to slip it through."
Minten also scored in regulation on Saturday. He's produced two goals and two assists in five American Hockey League games since returning from a high ankle sprain sustained during Leafs rookie camp.
With Reaves suspended, is it possible Minten earns a call-up to the Leafs?
"We've got to look at what's best for us and then what's best for him," Berube said. "So, it's a conversation. He's a good player, we all know that, and he's playing well down there already. So, we'll see what happens."
"It's been fun just kind of progressing with each game health-wise and confidence-wise," Minten said following Saturday's game, which was played at Scotiabank Arena.
Minten, a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, has immediately earned the trust of Marlies coach John Gruden.
"I know he's only 20, but he does a lot of good things," Gruden said. "He stops on pucks. His detail is extremely good. He's got a good stick. He's just going to continue to get better."
"He's pretty silky," said defenceman Philippe Myers. "I feel like he's pretty mature for his age and he's got a lot of poise out there. Obviously a really big part of the organization and he's got a bright future."
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After sitting out as a healthy scratch in 17 of 18 games with the Leafs to the start of the season, Myers agreed to go to the AHL on a conditioning loan.
"Being in this position takes a little bit of maturity," the 27-year-old said. "Just staying positive and hyping the boys up and working my [hardest] in practice. I think that's all you can do, and kind of practising like you play and having that mentality. So, it's been a grind, but I've been positive and been working hard."
Myers suited up twice for the Marlies over the weekend, which represented his first game action since his Leafs debut on Oct. 26 in Boston.
"It was good to get some touches in and get my game going a little bit," the 6-foot-6 blueliner said on Saturday. "They just told me to come down here and get some games, so I'll be more ready when I do get in again."
This conditioning loan can last a maximum of two weeks.
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The Marlies lost a 12-round shootout on Saturday. Myers admitted he was starting to get a little nervous on the bench as the marathon tie-breaker session dragged on.
"I think that's the closest I've ever been to going," he said with a grin. "Like, I don't even know what I would've tried to do honestly, but, yeah, I was thinking about it there for sure."
Gruden joked that he wanted to send assistant coach Steve Sullivan over the boards.
"It would've been nice to win that for Dennis [Hildeby], who made some big saves there, but unfortunately it didn't happen," Gruden said.
Hildeby, who started two games with the Leafs earlier this season, called the shootout "fun" despite the loss. He also appreciated the chance to get a start at Scotiabank Arena where he's never played in the NHL.
"It's always fun to get a feel for it, kind of pretend like you’re with the Leafs a little bit," the 23-year-old Swede said with a smile. "I like it. It was a great atmosphere too."
Hildeby has a .920 save percentage in three games since being sent down to the AHL this season. He's been splitting starts with veteran Matt Murray and fellow youngster Artur Akhtyamov.
"He's been good," Gruden said. "Sometimes it's hard for all three goalies to get momentum, but he's looked extremely well. He battles. He prepares. Never worried when he's in net, so he gave us a chance to win."
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The Leafs announced that Calle Jarnkrok underwent groin and sports hernia surgery on Monday. The 33-year-old forward is listed as month-to-month.
"He'll be out a while," Berube said. "It's too bad, because he's a player that we liked and can help us."
The veteran winger suited up in two pre-season games before being shutdown with what was initially termed a lower-body injury.
Jarnkrok averaged 12 minutes and 29 seconds of even-strength ice time in 52 games last season, which ranked seventh among Toronto's forward group.
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Lines in Saturday's game:
McMann - Tavares - Marner
Knies - Domi - Nylander
Robertson - Kampf - Holmberg
Dewar - Lorentz - Reaves
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Hakanpää
Ekman-Larsson - Timmins
Stolarz
Woll