For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to take advantage of a struggling opponent and get their power play on track as they take on former head coach Randy Carlyle’s Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Arena on Monday. The Ducks are coming off a 9-3 shallacking in Winnipeg on Saturday and have won only two games since Christmas, but are still within three points of a wildcard spot in the tightly compacted Western Conference standings and are getting healthy, with veterans Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler expected to be in the Anaheim lineup tonight. The Leafs are playing their third in a stretch of four games in six nights coming out of the All-Star/bye week and earned three of a possible four points in a 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit on Friday and a home victory over Pittsburgh by the same score on Saturday, but their power play continues to struggle and is beginning to become a concern for head coach Mike Babcock. Toronto has gone three for their last 28 with the man advantage since Christmas and it is due mostly to teams collapsing down and forcing Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner to make quicker decisions and cutting off their ability to make cross-ice passes. “Our power play hasn’t been as good of late and we are not getting extra goals and we are going to have to earn them right now, until we get our feel back.… Babcock said after the morning skate. “The bottom line is you have to play hard.… Babcock kept the top unit the same on Monday, with John Tavares playing net front, Nazem Kadri playing up the middle, Matthews and Marner on the wings and Morgan Rielly at the point and only slightly tinkering with the second unit, subbing in Jake Muzzin to go along with Jake Gardiner, Patrick Marleau, William Nylander and Andreas Johnsson, The club’s coaching staff has to consider altering the positioning on the man advantage or adjust the personnel to jump start their special teams and make them the difference making unit that they were early in the season. Toronto will not make any lineup changes other than Frederik Andersen starting in goal, but did have Tyler Ennis participating in drills on Monday, which means the veteran winger is drawing closer to getting back into action for the first time since December 22. *******
The Leafs astound, confound.
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