Babcock thinks Bolts are best, Marlies injuries on D; Leafs vs. Panthers (maple leafs)

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Babcock thinks Bolts are best, Marlies injuries on D; Leafs vs. Panthers

By Mike Augello

Dec 20, 2018 • 3:05 pm

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The Toronto Maple Leafs return home after a lengthy road trip to take on the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. The Leafs finish out 2018 with four of five games on home ice and hope for a better outcome against their division rival, who won 4-3 in overtime last Saturday on the strength of Aleksander Barkov’s hat trick.

Frederik Andersen and Zach Hyman did not participate in practice on Wednesday, but will play against the Panthers. The Leafs goaltender was given a rest day after having started five games in a row, while Hyman was checked into the end boards in the 7-2 win over New Jersey on Tuesday. Roberto Luongo (7-5-1, 2.95 GAA, .906 save percentage) will go for Florida and has a 23-11-3 career record against Toronto.

The Panthers helped out the Leafs as their 5-2 victory over Buffalo vaulted the Blue and White into second place in the Atlantic Division, but head coach Mike Babcock acknowledged that it may be a near impossible task to catch the Tampa Bay Lightning for top spot.

“It looks to me like Tampa is better than us, it looks like they are better than everybody right now in the league. I’m not saying they are deeper, they’re more talented or any of that, but there maturity level to play every night and find a way to win seems to be there.… Babcock said. “They’ve had disappointment at playoff time and they look like they’re battle scarred and ready to go.…

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner made their debut in the National Ballet of Canada’s production of “The Nutcracker… on Wednesday night. The Leafs forwards were enthusiatic in their role as Cannon Dolls, but were also nervous on a completely unfamiliar stage.

“It was nerve racking going out there, but you just got out there and let your emotions take over, but it was a lot of fun.… Matthews said. “They talked to us and somebody needed to be scared and the other person needed to be really excited, so we kinda decided on our roles then. I think part of it had to do with the scared person pretending they fainted and jump into the other person’s arms and Mitch said he couldn’t catch me.…

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In following up my column yesterday about the Leafs need for depth on defense, the current situation with the Toronto Marlies shows how quickly injuries can cause a crisis situation at any position.

The current Leafs extra defensemen are Martin Marincin and Justin Holl, who have played a combined seven games this season, but it is thought that Timothy Liljegren, Calle Rosen or possibly Andreas Borgman would be the option taken if any of Toronto’s top six blueliners were out for a significant period of time.

Liljegren suffered a high ankle sprain on December 1 and will miss the World Junior in Vancouver and Victoria starting next week, which GM Kyle Dubas said may have altered the 19-year-old’s timetable to make his NHL debut sometime this season.

That left Toronto with just four defensemen and after a line brawl in the third sparked by Morgan Klimchuk’s high hit on Michael McLeod, the Marlies had just two blueliners available and a three minute power play to kill, forcing head coach Sheldon Keefe to use winger Trevor Moore on defense.

The severity of the injuries to Borgman and Rosen are not known at this time, but it just illustrates the need of the Leafs to not only improve the quality of defensemen they have available, but the quantity as well.

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