The Maple Leafs held a practice at the Ford Performance on Friday before travelling to Chicago. <\/p>\n
Joseph Woll<\/a> is back with the Leafs and all signs point to the 27-year-old making his season debut on Saturday night in Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a bit of a weird start to the season, like we\u2019ve talked about before,\u201d said Woll, who missed the start of the year for personal reasons. \u201cI\u2019m just pumped to get going.\u201d<\/p>\n Woll just wrapped up an American Hockey League conditioning stint, which saw him get into two games with the Toronto Marlies. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like riding a bike,\u201d he said with a grin. \u201cIt was good to just get back out.\u201d<\/p>\n Woll logged 36 minutes in a game last Saturday in Lehigh Valley before going the distance in Grand Rapids on Wednesday. He allowed six goals on 52 shots (.885 save percentage) in the pair of appearances. Despite the numbers, Woll felt good between the pipes. <\/p>\n \u201cA couple of big things are just kind of my pace that I move at, making sure I\u2019m moving quickly and have my feet under me and that type of thing, and just kind of the reads of the game,\u201d Woll said. \u201cI feel like those are both where they need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n The Leafs certainly liked what they saw in Friday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n \u201cToday he was unreal,\u201d raved winger William Nylander<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019ll be nice to have him back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe seems normal to me and ready to go,\u201d said coach Craig Berube<\/a>. \u201cIt means a lot to the team. I mean, obviously him leaving at that point [in training camp] was a surprise and, you know, obviously catches everybody off guard, but he was a big part of our team last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Berube is reluctant to confirm his starting goalie ahead of game day and only said he was considering giving Woll the nod against the upstart Blackhawks, who have recorded a point in four straight (3-0-1).<\/p>\n The trip to Chicago is always a special one for Woll, who is from nearby St. Louis and usually has family in attendance. It almost feels like a home game.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019ll be nice to be close to home,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s getting to the Midwest and breathing the same air in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n Woll stopped 25 of 27 shots to pick up a win at the United Center in February, which is his only previous game in Chicago.<\/p>\n Woll, who led the Leafs with 41 starts last season, hasn\u2019t played in the NHL since taking the loss in Game 7 of the second-round series against the Florida Panthers<\/a> on May 18.<\/p>\n Woll\u2019s return comes at an important time for the Leafs, who have dropped four straight (0-3-1) and are currently without No. 1 goalie Anthony Stolarz<\/a>, who sustained an upper-body injury on Tuesday in Boston. Stolarz did not take part in Friday\u2019s practice and is listed as day-to-day.<\/p>\n Dennis Hildeby<\/a> started on Thursday and stopped 33 of 37 shots in an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>. The 24-year-old prospect has appeared in four straight games, including twice in relief for Stolarz.<\/p>\n Woll ready to return, could make season debut Saturday vs. Blackhawks After playing two games in the AHL as part of a conditioning stint, goaltender Joseph Woll was back with the Maple Leafs for Friday’s practice and all signs point to the 27-year-old making his season debut Saturday night in Chicago. TSN’s Mark Masters has more. <\/p>\n \u2014-<\/p>\n The Leafs placed centre Auston Matthews<\/a> (lower body) on injured reserve on Friday, which means he will miss at least seven days. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s hope, and I stress that it\u2019s hope at this point, that it may only be eight or nine days from the time of the injury,\u201d said TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston. \u201cMeaning next Thursday\u2019s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> could, and I\u2019ll stress could, be the time when Auston Matthews<\/a> gets back.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthews sustained the injury during Tuesday\u2019s game in Boston. The Leafs captain was rocked by Nikita Zadorov<\/a> before getting up and skating over to hit the 6-foot-7, 255-pound Bruins defenceman later in the shift. Johnston reports that Matthews got hurt in the process of hitting Zadorov. <\/p>\n The current issue is not connected to the injury that plagued Matthews throughout last season.<\/p>\n Johnston on Matthews’ recovery outlook, Nylander’s contribution, Berube’s mindset Now that the Maple Leafs have placed star forward Auston Matthews on injured reserve retroactive to November 11, is there a better sense of when he could return to the lineup? Can William Nylander step up and lead the team in his captain’s absence? TSN’s Mark Masters is joined by TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston to discuss this and how the coaching staff is handling this latest slump. <\/p>\n \u2014-<\/p>\n The Leafs recalled winger Easton Cowan<\/a> from the American Hockey League on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve liked Cowboy this year,\u201d said Berube, referring to Cowan by his nickname. \u201cI think he\u2019s given us some really good games up here.\u201d<\/p>\n Cowan has one goal and three assists in 10 games with the Leafs. He picked up one assist in two games with the Marlies.<\/p>\n Berube noted that Cowan\u2019s demotion was simply for \u201croster reasons.\u201d The 20-year-old rookie does not require waivers to be sent to the AHL unlike the team\u2019s other forwards.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought he looked really good out there today,\u201d Berube said.<\/p>\n Cowan skated on a line with Nicolas Roy<\/a> and Sammy Blais, who appeared to be a placeholder for Matthew Knies<\/a>, who missed practice for maintenance.<\/p>\n Cowan also took reps with the top power-play unit. He got a look on that unit in his last NHL game on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n Leafs Ice Chips: Cowan called up; Knies, Carlo miss practice for maintenance\u00a0 The Maple Leafs recalled forward Easton Cowan from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies ahead of Saturday’s game against the Blackhawks, while forward Matthew Knies and defenceman Brandon Carlo missed practice on Friday for maintenance. TSN’s Mark Masters has more. <\/p>\n \u2014-<\/p>\n Monday was a travel day to Boston and Wednesday was a scheduled day off for the players, so Friday marked the first full practice for the team since the start of their four-game winless run.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought the guys worked,\u201d said Berube of the 30-minute session. \u201cThey had pretty good energy out there, which is good. Things aren\u2019t good right now and a lot of times you can come in today with practice and, you know, everybody\u2019s hanging their heads and kind of going through the motions. I didn\u2019t see that today, which is good. We had energy. Guys worked hard. They did what we asked them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite allowing four goals against the Kings, the Leafs felt they took a step forward on Thursday in terms of how they defended.<\/p>\n \u201cOther than giving up more shots than we\u2019d like to, I think it was harder to get to our net, harder to get cleaner looks,\u201d said centre John Tavares<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Leafs struggled to break out against the Kings and were repeatedly hemmed in their own end. The Kings directed 87 shot attempts at the Leafs net with 37 hitting the target. Toronto mustered just 15 shots on net, the lowest total of the Berube era, on 33 attempts. <\/p>\n \u201cI think second and third, we\u2019re defending too much,\u201d Tavares acknowledged. \u201cWe\u2019re on our heels.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the focus at Toronto\u2019s practice on Friday was on breaking the puck out of the defensive end. <\/p>\n \u201cWe just all got to come back and be together,\u201d said Nylander. \u201cTape-to-tape passes, hold-ups [on] the forecheckers coming in, give the D some more time and make the game easy on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been periods of time where we\u2019ve done it okay,\u201d said defenceman Morgan Rielly<\/a>. \u201cWith the D, I think it starts with communication. We have a plan. We have systems in place. Depending on where the puck is, we have plans to fall back on. It\u2019s about executing, really. I think that\u2019s what it comes down to. You can be in the right spots. You can communicate. You can do everything right, but if you don\u2019t execute, it\u2019s going to lead to some breakdowns.\u201d<\/p>\n Berube feels a lack of confidence is causing some of those breakdowns. <\/p>\n \u201cConfidence is a funny thing,\u201d Berube said. \u201cYou want to get your confidence back, you go and work and get it back. That\u2019s how you get your confidence back. Yeah, we\u2019re in adversity right now. Well, what are we going to do? We\u2019re going to go through that adversity, go through that wall, find a way to get through it, climb over the wall, whatever it is. You know, you\u2019ve got to push your way through it as a team and every individual.\u201d<\/p>\n Rielly noted it\u2019s important to embrace the situation and view it as an opportunity to respond. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not exactly the position you want to be in right now, but this is the challenge and it\u2019s fun,\u201d the longest-serving Leaf said.<\/p>\n Fun? <\/p>\n Rielly admits that\u2019s not the right word. But he stands by the sentiment. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen you say you want to be an athlete and you want to go through ups and downs, this is the challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re in the fight, and these games are important. It\u2019s a challenge right now. It\u2019s a grind. But, as an athlete, you\u2019ve got to kind of appreciate that and be grateful that you\u2019re in a position where we believe in ourselves, and we\u2019re going to go out and work, and no one\u2019s going to do it for you. You\u2019ve got to go out and do it. So that\u2019s how we\u2019re looking at it.\u201d<\/p>\n Berube: ‘You want to get your confidence back? You go and work and get it back’ Mired in a four-game losing streak, head coach Craig Berube stresses the importance of the Leafs working to regain their confidence and pushing through the adversity. <\/p>\n \u2014-<\/p>\n Nylander leads the Leafs in scoring (25 points in 15 games) and has hit the scoresheet in his last 12 games. But he\u2019s minus-two during the last four games and got an earful from Berube at the bench after being on the ice for the Kings\u2019 second goal in the second period. <\/p>\n \u201cThat shift in particular ended up being a long one,\u201d said Nylander, who had been on the ice for more than 90 seconds and struggled to cover anyone in the lead up to the goal. \u201cIt was the second period and, you know, couldn\u2019t get a change.\u201d<\/p>\n Nylander finished the game without a shot on net. It\u2019s only the third time he\u2019s been held without a shot this season. <\/p>\n With Matthews, the team\u2019s captain, sidelined, the Leafs had the chance to identify a new player to wear a letter on Thursday. It was Nylander, who wore an \u2018A\u2019, which was also the case when Rielly, an alternate captain, missed a game earlier in the year.<\/p>\n How can Nylander help lead the Leafs out of their current funk?<\/p>\n \u201cI just try to talk and be positive,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s important in this kind of time. I mean, we will turn it around. We just got to have each other\u2019s backs.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the season, Berube urged Nylander to be more of a leader and the coach has seen growth in that area off the ice. However, there\u2019s still room for growth on the ice.<\/p>\n \u201cA little bit more consistency,\u201d Berube said when asked what he\u2019s looking for from Nylander. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of good, but then it\u2019s got a little bit inconsistent. So consistency and just staying with it and working.\u201d<\/p>\n Nylander is averaging 21:49 of ice time during the four game losing streak. Before this skid, he averaged 19:23 per game. <\/p>\n Berube says Nylander has shown ‘a lot of good’, but wants to see more consistency Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube says William Nylander has shown “a lot of good” on the ice, but just wants to see some more consistency from the talented winger. Meanwhile, Nylander discusses his effort level on the Kevin Fiala goal on Thursday night. <\/p>\n \u2014-<\/p>\n Defenceman Brandon Carlo<\/a> missed Friday\u2019s practice with the team calling it a maintenance day.<\/p>\n