The Toronto Maple Leafs took to the ice at their practice facility in Etobicoke, ON Thursday morning before traveling to Pennsylvania in advance of a key Friday night meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Coach Randy Carlyle tinkered slightly with his line combinations, moving Mason Raymond up to play with Nazem Kadri and Joffrey Lupul and shifting Nikolai Kulemin to play with Dave Bolland and David Clarkson and reinforced the need for winning battles along the boards and improving on puck possession after being manhandled by the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
“We just slapped the puck away in the beginning of the hockey game that led to the barrage.… said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. “They(the Blues) did a good job of spreading us out when they got the puck and we had a hard time getting it back from them for a period.…
Toronto was able to score the opening goal against the Western Conference leading Blues, but that did not alleviate any pressure on the Leafs, who have been thoroughly dominated in the first period of every game during their eight game slide in the standings.
After instruction-heavy practice, Carlyle brings group in for usual end-of-workout chat pic.twitter.com/Oqw4J9NfKB
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) March 27, 2014“The more you talk about it(pressure), the more you focus on the tightness, the harder it is to flush.… Carlyle said. “We have to be prepared to look at the positives that are in the hockey game, the things we have done well and not focus on the negatives. Pressure comes from within, comes from outside, comes from everywhere. I think the amount of pressure that you put on yourself to perform, is really and truly what you have to answer to.…
The Leafs will likely need some help on the scoreboard over the next 2 ½ weeks to earn their second straight playoff berth, but that will be academic if they do not turn things around immediately.
Toronto is in a four-way tie with Detroit, Columbus and Washington for the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference, with eight games left on their schedule. While their competition has one or two games in hand, the Leafs appear to have a scheduling advantage with no back-to-back games after this weekend. The Leafs need to win against the Flyers to end their six game losing streak and put themselves in a positive frame of mind for an absolute must-win against Detroit at the ACC on Saturday. Toronto has Calgary, Boston and Winnipeg on their final homestand of the season, before finishing on the road in Tampa Bay, Florida and Ottawa. The Wings have 10 games remaining(five home, five away), but nine of those games are in three-game in four-night clusters starting on Thursday as Montreal visits the Joe Louis Arena. After facing Toronto on Saturday, Detroit has a difficult turnaround, returning home to play Tampa Bay in a Sunday afternoon matinee. In April, the Wings face tough challenges in Montreal and against division leaders Boston, Pittsburgh and St. Louis, but has a pair against 30th place Buffalo and the non-playoff bound Carolina Hurricanes.
The Blue Jackets have a similarly difficult task, with four back-to-backs in their final 10 games(five home, five away). They face Pittsburgh and Carolina this weekend, Colorado, at Philadelphia and Chicago in a four night span next week, the NY Islanders, Phoenix, at Dallas, at Tampa Bay and at Florida in the final week of the season.
The Capitals have nine games remaining(four at home, five away), starting with back-to-back contests against Boston Friday and in Nashville on Saturday. The easy part of their schedule begins on April 1, facing Dallas at home and the non-playoff bound Devils and Islanders back-to-back, but the final week of the season will be tough with road contests against St. Louis and Carolina followed by their final two home games against Chicago and Tampa Bay.
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