The Toronto Maple Leafs are four points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot at American Thanksgiving, which statistically puts the club at a disadvantage to make the post-season, but head coach Mike Babcock is looking for more from his young club as the enter the second quarter of the season, starting on Saturday when they face Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Air Canada Center.
The Leafs have lost their last three, all by one goal (2-1 to Montreal and Carolina and a 5-4 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday), finishing the first quarter with a record of 8-8-4.
Toronto has to be pleased by the offense they are receiving from rookie forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Connor Brown, but the Leafs head coach focused most of his comments on the defense, an area on where the most improvement is needed. “We gotta learn to play well without the puck, we gotta learn to play heavy in the defensive zone and spend time in their end than spending time in your own zone.… Babcock said after the morning skate. “We need (Morgan) Rielly to be our #1 every night and that’s not (just) racing around, that’s playing without the puck.…
Rielly leads the Leafs in time-on-ice (22;56) and defensive scoring (11 points), but has had a roller-coaster November, with a career-high four point night vs Philadelphia and games against the Penguins and Devils where defensively he was -3 on the evening.
Babcock is not only looking for Rielly to step up and be a dominant force on the blueline, but for defenders like Connor Carrick to stake their claim on a spot in the top six.
Caps coach Barry Trotz holding court after the morning skate at ACC. Braden Holtby goes vs #Leafs pic.twitter.com/ACSCqBWpxK
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) November 26, 2016
Carrick has good skating ability, but has not been able to use it to his advantage and at times has been outmuscled by bigger forwards. The 22-year-old scored 18 points in 15 games during the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, but only has three points in 18 games for the Leafs.
The Leafs coach was pleased with the recent play of Jake Gardiner, who leads the Toronto defense with four goals, but the 26-year-old has been playing more sheltered minutes against third and fourth lines and not against the oppositions top forwards.
Philipp Grubauer played for Washington in their victory over Buffalo on Friday and Braden Holtby will get the start for the Capitals in the second of back-to-back games. Frederik Andersen will be in goal for Toronto.
Leafs lines and pairings
Van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Marner Komarov-Kadri-Brown Hyman-Matthews-Nylander Martin-Smith-Soshnikov
Rielly-Zaitsev Gardiner-Carrick Hunwick-Polak
Andersen Enroth
Scratches Holland Leivo Marincin Corrado
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TSN’s Darren Dreger confirmed on Saturday what had been rumored for much of this week. Veteran winger Brandon Prust has signed with the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers of the German league.
The 32-year-old former Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks forward was released by the Leafs from a professional tryout contract but continued to practice with the Leafs in hopes of being signed to an NHL contract.
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