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The Toronto Maple Leafs saw a weary Frederik Andersen allow five goals in a home loss to the Montreal Canadiens last Saturday. After a five-day respite and some reshuffling in the club’s goaltending ranks, head coach Mike Babcock stated that new backup Curtis McElhinney would make his Leafs debut this weekend in one of the two back-to-back road games against New York or Ottawa.
Andersen, who has made all but six of Toronto’s 39 starts this season, will be between the pipes against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday, which means that McElhinney will see his first action on Saturday against the Senators in Kanata, ON. “The biggest thing is just to solidify that second spot.… McElhinney said on Thursday. “As far my history goes, I know what my role is. I know Freddy has been doing a pretty good job, so hopefully I can go in and do the job when he needs some time off.…
Toronto traded goalie Jhonas Enroth to Anaheim earlier this week and demoted rookie Antoine Bibeau to the American Hockey Leafs to make room for the 33-year-old McElhinney (claimed off of waivers from Columbus), who has a 2.39 GAA and .924 save percentage with the Blue Jackets this season.
Morning skate. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/M7CZnD7D7L
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 13, 2017
The bye week could not have come at a worse time for the Leafs, who were a red-hot 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and tied for an Eastern Conference playoff spot last weekend. Five days later, the club is four points behind third-place Ottawa, two points in back of Florida and tied with Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division, and trail Philadelphia by six points for the last wild card spot.
Other than the All-Star break at the end of January, it will be non-stop action for Toronto from now until the end of the regular season, who have a league-high 43 games left in the 87 days remaining on the schedule.
“It’s always fun to go (away for awhile), I’d rather have four less back-to-back (games).… Babcock said after practice on Thursday. “When you are out on (vacation), you may as well enjoy yourself and I think our team did that. Now we have to get focused and get ready to play. These points are huge for our team.…
Toronto has gone 6-0-1 in their last seven road games, which is a dramatic reversal of their early season difficulties away from home. Conversely, the Leafs enjoyed success at Air Canada Center in October and November, but have only once in their last seven games at ACC.
With anywhere from one to four games in hand on every team except the NY Islanders in the East, how Toronto emerges from their bye week will be a factor in their ability to stay in the playoff race during the second-half.
The Rangers, also coming off a five-day break, will start Henrik Lundqvist in goal and get wingers Rick Nash and Pavel Buchnevich back in the lineup, but will be without veteran defenseman Marc Staal.
The Toronto native and 2002 first overall pick has been out since December 18 with a groin injury, while the Russian rookie has missed the last two months with a back injury. Staal suffered a concussion against Buffalo in early January and is currently going through the league’s protocol.
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