The Maple Leafs beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 on Saturday at Ball Arena. Sunday is a day off for the team.
Defenceman Chris Tanev left Saturday’s game in the first period with what the Toronto Maple Leafs are calling an upper-body injury.
“It’s always tough,” said captain Auston Matthews. “I mean, he’s a ‘heart-and-soul’ guy. He plays a big role in our back end, shutdown guy, so you’re hoping it’s nothing serious and that he’ll be alright. But we’ll see. Obviously it’s a tough loss.”
The Leafs have placed Tanev on injured reserve, per the NHL media site, which means he will miss at least a week. Marshall Rifai did not play for the Toronto Marlies on Sunday and is expected to be called up from the American Hockey League.
The team is scheduled to be back on the ice for a practice on Monday in Utah, which is when more clarity on Tanev’s situation is expected.
Tanev, who is known for his high pain tolerance, took an innocuous-looking bump from Avalanche winger Artturi Lehkonen before heading to the bench hunched over in pain.
“Obviously that’s not fun to see,” said winger William Nylander. “I really don’t know what happened, but hopefully he’s okay.”
Tanev was walking around in a suit and conversing with teammates, including Nylander, after the game. The 36 year old is coming off an injury-plagued season, which saw him limited to 11 games. His absence is a big reason why the Leafs cratered to 31st in goals against last season.
Tanev underwent core muscle surgery in March and was only cleared to return to game action on the eve of training camp.
Tanev started this season looking like his old self. Despite facing top lines each night, the right-shot rearguard had only been on the ice for one goal against through five outings. He’s been a key cog on a penalty kill that is ranked first in the NHL.
How concerning is Tanev’s situation?
“You’re always concerned, whether it is him or anybody, if a player isn’t able to finish the game,” said coach Jim Hiller. “Always concerned about my players.”
“I didn’t really see what happened or I don’t really know to what extent it is, but obviously Tanev’s kind of been the anchor of the back end for those first couple games,” said defenceman Nick Blankenburg. “Yeah, it sucks seeing a guy go down the tunnel, whoever it is, but hopefully it’s not too serious and kind of go from there.”
Toronto will wrap up its three-game trip with a game against the Mammoth on Tuesday night on TSN4.
‘Tough loss’ for Leafs as Tanev suffers injury; Blankenburg steps up with first goal Chris Tanev left Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury and coach Jim Hiller isn’t sure how much time the 36-year-old heart-and-soul defenceman will miss. Nick Blankenburg, who scored in his season debut in Colorado, is the next man up on the depth chart.
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The Leafs dressed seven defencemen on Saturday with Blankenburg making his debut with the team. And he made an immediate impact by scoring on his first shift.
“I think obviously the first time you get into a game in the year, you’re a little bit nervous, but I think it’s a good kind of nervous, like excited,” the 28-year-old said. “So to get one there in the first shift definitely felt nice, kind of took a weight off my shoulders.”
The 5-foot-9 blueliner wired a shot over the shoulder of 6-foot-4 goalie Mackenize Blackwood.
“He roofed that thing,” said Nylander, who picked up the primary assist on the goal. “How many seconds into his first shift? Was it his first shift? That’s awesome. I’m happy for him. He did a great job.”
With Tanev out, Blankenburg is likely to play a regular role moving forward. He attended training camp on a professional tryout before signing a one-year, $1.4 million contract.
Blankenburg, who produced 24 points in 61 games split between Colorado and Nashville last season, has patiently been awaiting a chance to get in the lineup.
“Blanky’s the man,” Matthews gushed. “Yeah, he’s one of those guys who just comes to the rink every day, works hard, never complains, and is an absolute treat to be around and spend time with. He’s got a great personality, and all the boys love him here … For not playing the first couple games, he looked good. He’s a very smooth skater, really poised with the puck, and he made plays. I thought he looked really good.”
Blankenburg is no stranger to this type of situation. He also sat out the first five games of the season last year with the Predators.
“I’ve done this so many times before in my career,” he said. “I feel like every year in my four-year career so far, it’s been like out of the lineup [and] wait. One year is three games. One year is eight games … I just kept telling myself leading up to this, like, I’ve been in this situation before and every time I’ve been able to handle it and been able to kind of just grind through that adversity and keep believing in myself. And, I mean, I think that was just kind of my message to myself heading into [Saturday’s game].”
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The Leafs struggled to contain Nathan MacKinnon early in Saturday’s game as the Avalanche centre scored twice in the first period. He flew up the ice on a rush on his first tally and maneuvered to find space in the offensive zone before beating a screened Sergei Bobrovsky for his second goal.
Matthews acknowledged feeling a little extra urgency to get up for the challenge presented by the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner.
“I think you have to, or you’re just going to spend the whole night in your own end and they’re going to get the merry-go-round going and it’s not fun,” Toronto’s top-line centre said. “He’s one of the best in the world. It’s always really tough, a tough challenge. I mean, he’s a really hard guy to contain. He’s explosive. He possesses so much power when he skates and when he moves and when he’s on the ice, you got to have a bit of a group effort to kind of contain him because he’s too good one-on-one.”
The Leafs were able to keep MacKinnon off the scoresheet over the final 40 minutes of the game.
“He got off to a hot start there, but I thought we made some adjustments and were able to kind of try to keep him to the outside as much as possible,” said Matthews. “But he’s an elite, elite player. He’s going to find his opportunities and his chances, and you’ve just got to weather those when they come.”
Matthews logged 5:45 of ice time against MacKinnon at 5-on-5, but the Toronto centre that saw MacKinnon the most was Colton Sissons at 5:58.
“Well, in the third period, we really tried to get Sissons, [Teddy] Blueger, and [Brandon] Duhaime against him,” highlighted Hiller. “If you check that, outside of the power plays and stuff, we matched them up and got our matchup at 5-on-5. And I thought those three, in particular, did a great job in the third period.”
‘Weather the storm’: Leafs find a way to slow down MacKinnon’s ‘merry-go-round’ Nathan MacKinnon scored twice in the first period, but the Leafs found a way to keep the Avalanche centre off the scoresheet the rest of the way. “He got off to a hot start, but we made some adjustments and were able to keep him to the outside as much as possible,” said Auston Matthews.
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MacKinnon slowed down as the night progressed, but Nylander kept on picking up steam. After setting up the Blankenburg goal in the first, the smooth-skating Swede scored twice in the second period before helping create an Easton Cowan goal with a nice rush up the ice for a three-point period.
Nylander capped off the second five-point night of his career by setting up Matthews for a power-play goal in the third period.
“He was just all over it,” said Matthews. “One of those games where it just seemed like he had the puck on his stick a lot, and he was making things happen. That’s a big-time game for him.”
It’s how Nylander got the puck onto his stick that stood out to Hiller.
“Well, he was skating,” the coach observed. “The first goal, where he makes the nice pass to Blankenburg, back it up 10 seconds, he’s in on the forecheck, he wins a puck battle, and that sets the whole thing up. He’s allowed to get the opportunity to make the next play because he made the first one by skating on the forecheck and winning a battle.”
Nylander leads the Leafs with 11 points. He has three goals and five points in four career games against the Mammoth.
‘Big-time game’: Nylander shows off ‘real powerful’ play in five-point performance William Nylander matched a career high with five points on Saturday night to lead the Leafs to a win in Colorado. “One of those games where it just seemed like he had the puck on his stick a lot,” said Auston Matthews. “That’s a big-time game from him.”
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With John Tavares back home with his family following the birth of son Tucker, rookie Gavin McKenna moved up to the top power-play unit and helped Toronto convert on two of four chances in Colorado.
“It’s pretty seamless,” said Matthews. “He just has such a good IQ and can see the play kind of developing before it happens, and an easy guy to read off of.”
McKenna made a nice move around Avalanche defenceman Josh Manson before firing the puck to Nylander for his first goal of the night.
“I mean, unbelievable pass on that first goal,” Nylander raved. “He did a great job. You know he’s so talented and he can make those plays all over the ice.”
In the third period, McKenna skated hard back to the Leafs zone to prevent a Manson shorthanded rush and start the sequence that led to Matthews’ man-advantage marker.
“We need him to backcheck, we know he can backcheck,” Hiller said with a smile.
The Leafs have been trying not to rush things with the first-overall pick, but McKenna is showing he can handle more.
“Every game he’s taking steps,” Hiller said. “Just played Vegas and Colorado and you’re a young guy, at 18 years old to play those two games back-to-back, it’s pretty impressive.”
McKenna logged 15 minutes and 21 seconds in Denver, which was his second-highest total through six games. He received shifts beside Matthews down the stretch as the Leafs defended a lead.
“We’re not just giving that to him,” Hiller stressed. “He’s earned that … So doesn’t mean he’ll start there every night, but when he’s playing well and he’s on, then he’s going to get those shifts.”
‘He earned that’: McKenna makes ‘pretty seamless’ transition to Leafs top PP unit With John Tavares home with his family following the birth of his fourth child, rookie Gavin McKenna moved up to the Leafs top power-play unit and delivered a beautiful primary assist Saturday. “Every game he’s taking steps,” said coach Jim Hiller. “It’s pretty impressive.”
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Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 33 shots in Denver in a high-altitude game that started at 5 pm local and came on the heels of a 40-save performance in a shootout loss in Vegas.
“Those last two games, a lot of work for him, and I guess that’s just classic Bob, right?” Hilller said. “That’s why he’s here. He just has a way to settle everybody down. Such a calm demeanour, and he made some great saves.”
Bobrovsky only faced 33 or more shots in a game once last season with the Florida Panthers.
“We haven’t been good enough in front of him in his first couple starts, and he’s had to come up big and hasn’t gotten rewarded for it,” Matthews said. “I would have loved to see him get a win earlier, but obviously coming into this building against this opponent, he was huge for us.”
Bobrovsky battled hard to earn his first win with the Leafs and allowed Toronto to outscore Colorado 3-1 in the second period despite being outshot 13-4.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar was asked to assess Blackwood’s performance after the game.
“He needs to give us a save,” Bednard said bluntly. “He needs to give us a save at some point there. I can’t blame him for any of the goals. None. But if you’re giving up four shots in a period and three goals, like, you’d like him to make a save on some of those.
“I’m sure he feels the same way. But, again, the chances we gave up, we’re not giving up anything and then it’s a Grade A and then we’re not giving up anything and it’s a Grade A. You know, Grade As are tough to stop especially when they have some shooters over there. But in [this] game we needed a save at a key time. As we got going in the second period, it’s a tight game, I think their goalie gave them a bunch of saves and we didn’t capitalize on some and they did so take it as you will.”
‘Classic’ Bobrovsky picks up first Leafs win; Bednar on Blackwood: ‘Needs to give us a save’ Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 33 shots on Saturday to pick up his first Leafs win. “Those last two games, a lot of work for him,” said coach Jim Hiller. “I guess that’s just classic Bob, right? He just has a way to settle everybody down.” Meanwhile, Mackenzie Blackwood allowed five goals on 22 shots. “He needs to give us a save at some point there,” said coach Jared Bednar.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Leafs lines to start Saturday’s game:
Marchenko – Matthews – Roslovic
Cowan – Paul – Nylander
McKenna – Sissons – Groulx
Blueger – Duhaime
McCabe – Raddysh
Rielly – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Stecher
Blankenburg
Bobrovsky starts
Stolarz