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Is there an open spot on the blueline??; Leafs vs. Flyers |
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The Toronto Maple Leafs recognize that digging themselves an early hole is a trend that cannot continue if they hope to have success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Leafs hope to get off to a better start in the final of their three-game homestand against the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.
“Just being more competitive, more engaged from the start. I think there is a level here that we haven’t had.” defenseman Ron Hainsey said on Friday. “(Tampa Bay and Chicago’s) level, their attention to detail from the start was higher than ours. Sometimes goals happen, you make mistakes and you end up with four guys in the corner, you can clean that up pretty quick, but other times you just spend too much time in your own zone and that happened in both games.”
The Flyers are in a similar spot that Chicago was entering Wednesday’s game, trailing Columbus and Montreal by five points in the race for the last Eastern Conference wildcard spot.
Philadelphia is playing the second of back-to-back games after losing at home to Washington on Thursday and will go with either Brian Elliott or Cam Talbot in goal after rookie Carter Hart took the loss against the Capitals, while Toronto will start Frederik Andersen, who has been pulled early in the last two games after allowing four goals.
“Our situation is we want to play way better than we have. We have a proud group who has played well all year. We’ve had some hiccups along the way, but we’ve been able to shorten those hiccups and get on with it.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “Four of our last six periods we didn’t like, we need that same desperation from the drop of the puck.”
Toronto has yet another opportunity to move to within two points of Boston in the race for home-ice advantage after the Bruins lost their third straight in regulation in Winnipeg on Thursday.
Babcock indicated that Zach Hyman will be a game-time decision after missing Wednesday’s game and being held out of Thursday’s practice with the flu. Justin Holl will replace Igor Ozhiganov alongside Martin Marincin in the rotation of bottom pairing defenders, but the Leafs head coach may have let the cat out of the bag regarding the three blueliners and the expectations of getting Jake Gardiner back in the lineup before the playoffs.
“There is an opportunity (for playing time). Marincin gets the call because he’s left-handed.” Babcock said. “We think Dermott is probably ahead of Gardiner coming back. He is playing one of those spots, so someone else has got to grab hold of it and it should be obvious to everyone, not just me.”
Dermott started skating this week and the expectation is that he will be able to return later this month or in early April, before the end of the regular season. Gardiner has been out for more than two weeks with a second back issue after suffering back spasms in late January and the pending free agent has not skated since before the NHL Trade Deadline.
With Babcock hinting at a competition between Holl, Marincin and Ozhiganov over the next three weeks, it does not sound as if Babcock is expecting to get both of his injured blueliners back before the first round of the playoffs.
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