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The Toronto Maple Leafs begin a three-game road swing through California against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, hoping to extend their winning streak to four games. The Leafs have a five-point lead on the Florida Panthers and are looking to create more distance in the race for third place in the Atlantic Division.
"The way to keep (winning) is just to keep things in perspective and know that we just got to focus on every single day that comes our way and not get caught up in any of the other stuff that's outside our control." Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Nothing that's come my way in terms of the roller coaster has been a surprise, back even when things are going really well, I knew that it wasn't going to stay that way, that we were going to have to ride the wave a little bit."
The Sharks are near the bottom of the Western Conference standings and playing out the string after trading former Leaf Patrick Marleau, and veterans Brenden Dillon and Barclay Goodrow before the February 24th deadline, but cannot be underestimated by Toronto if they want to earn a valuable two points.
The Leafs will make a couple lineup changes on Tuesday. Jack Campbell will make his first appearance since February 15 after Frederik Andersen started in seven straight games.
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With a back-to-back in Southern California later this week, the Leafs backup will get another game against his former club in Los Angeles on Thursday or against Anaheim on Friday. Starting Campbell against the Sharks gives Andersen a five-day respite since his win over Vancouver, which could be much needed down the stretch if Florida closes the gap in the race for a playoff spot.
Rasmus Sandin will also sit in favor of fellow rookie Timothy Liljegren, who will be paired with Calle Rosen.
Keefe provided an update on injured defensemen Morgan Rielly and Cody Ceci, and winger Ilya Mikheyev, who accompanied and practiced with the club on Monday.
"It'll be sort of our day-to-day type of thing (with Rielly), assuming everything goes really well. (It's) obviously very positive for us to see him on the ice and he just steps right into doing a lot of our full contact drills." Keefe said. "He's been feeling really good. We just got to make sure that he continues to have the appropriate amount of time before he gets into a game."
The timetable for Ceci returning from a high-ankle sprain is next week at the earliest, while Mikheyev is further away after suffering a lacerated wrist tendon in late December.
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