For the latest Leafs updates, Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter The Toronto Maple Leafs have put their suitcases away after spending most of December on the road and begin a six-game home stand against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday. The Leafs are coming off a 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in which they started slow and fell behind 3-0 in the first period due to some shoddy defensive play. Prior to Tuesday’s morning skate, Toronto returned goaltender Calvin Pickard to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and recalled center Frederik Gauthier. Pickard made 24 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Colorado on December 29, but Curtis McElhinney has recovered from the lower body injury suffered in Arizona last week.
Gauthier has five goals and three assists in 25 games with the Leafs AHL affiliate and skated in place of veteran Dominic Moore between Matt Martin and Connor Brown at the morning skate. The Leafs 2013 first rounder will be on the same ice with Tampa defenseman Jake Dotchin for the first time since he ended his season with a check into the boards during the Marlies - Syracuse series last May. The Leafs will also get Nazem Kadri back in the lineup after missing most of the post-holiday road trip thanks to an elbow from Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse. Kadri indicated that he went through concussion protocol, but feels ready to go after over a week of inaction. "I think it all came from neck soreness," Kadri said. "It put a little bit of pressure on my head just from my neck being sore and (I was) not being able to have that full rotation. I didn’t quite feel 100%, but now I’m ready to go." With Nikita Zaitsev expected to be out for the entire Leafs home stand, head coach Mike Babcock will be juggling defensemen to find a combination that will make the least mistakes. "I like to think we’re a good team. I think early we thought we were a good team, I think we can be a good team, (but) there’s no question we’re not deep enough to sustain a bunch of injuries." Babcock said . In Arizona, Connor Carrick looked bad to two early Coyotes goals. Martin Marincin was equally as bad in Vegas, as the main cog in two defensive breakdowns that led to Golden Knights tallies. Carrick will return to the lineup against Tampa. Frederik Andersen will make the start for Toronto and Andrei Vasilevskiy will be in goal for the Lightning, who lead the NHL with 58 points.
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At the 2018 World Junior Championships, Team Canada will take on Switzerland in the quarter-final and will have all seven defensemen available after there were some concerns about the availability of Victor Mete and Dante Fabbro.
Team Sweden will take on Slovakia after winning all four games in the preliminary round. Leafs 2017 top pick Timothy Liljegren had a goal and assist in the Swede's shootout victory over Russia on Sunday.
TIMOTHY LILJEGREN (@MapleLeafs) GRABS THE REBOUND AND SLAMS IT HOME! 2-1 SWEDEN! pic.twitter.com/MXMIhgYge0
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) January 1, 2018
After allowing four goals in a victory over Finland, Team USA Bob Motzko will go back with Leafs prospect Joseph Woll as his starter in their quarter-final match vs. Russia. *******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******