The Maple Leafs held a media availability at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday. The Predators held an optional skate.

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Cayden Primeau will make his Leafs debut on Tuesday night when he gets the start against the Nashville Predators.

“He looked really good in practice, very comfortable, and happy to be here,” said coach Craig Berube. “All I can go off is practice right now, and we like him in practice. His work ethic has been excellent. He’s done a really good job.”

With Joseph Woll away from the team on personal leave, the Leafs claimed Primeau off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes on the eve of the regular season to provide more depth in net.

Anthony Stolarz started the first three games of the season. He only faced 15 shots in Monday afternoon’s loss to the Red Wings, but Berube said the team did not consider playing Stolarz on consecutive days.

Primeau suited up in 11 games with the Montreal Canadiens last season, posting an .836 save percentage. He also got into 22 games with the Laval Rocket and recorded an impressive .927 save percentage in the American Hockey League.

“He’s really calm in there just watching him in practice,” said Stolarz. “I’m excited for him. He’s a hell of a goalie and, you know, somebody who’s going to help our team.”

Primeau, who is the son of former NHL player and Toronto native Keith Primeau, has 55 NHL games on his resume with an .884 save percentage in his career.

“He’s been pretty quiet, but I think there’s certainly underlying excitement about the opportunity and what he can bring to the table,” said centre John Tavares. “Looking forward to [him] just relishing the opportunity he has here with us. He’s come in and just worked really hard, put his head down and is just trying to be ready to compete every single day.”

Primeau, 26, hit the ice for a session with goalie coach Curtis Sanford on Tuesday morning. He’s gone through only three full team practices so far with the Leafs.

Primeau has not played since stopping 18 of 20 shots against the Predators in a pre-season game with the Hurricanes on Sept. 28.

Defenceman Brandon Carlo points to communication as the key to building chemistry with a new goalie.

“Just trying to be as loud as possible,” Carlo said. “I think that helps everybody’s eyes be able to focus on where the puck is … I like to just try and be as loud as possible.”

The Predators, who are also playing on consecutive days, are also set to start their backup. Justus Annunen was the first goalie off the ice after their morning skate.

Primeau set to make Maple Leafs debut vs. Predators Cayden Primeau will make his Maple Leafs debut tonight when the team hosts the Predators. The Leafs speak about how excited they are for the goaltender to get the opportunity he’s worked hard for.

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Steven Lorentz skated again on Tuesday morning, but the winger will remain sidelined with an upper-body injury.

Berube is sticking with the same lineup, which means Easton Cowan will suit up in his second career NHL game. The 20-year-old winger made a strong first impression on Monday despite being thrust into a prominent position beside Auston Matthews on Toronto’s top line.

“You see his hockey IQ, his ability to make plays and see things that maybe not everyone can see,” Tavares said. “He looked real solid, really good, really comfortable and he’ll only get better. I think there’s no doubt he’s going to be a very good player.”

On the ice, there doesn’t appear to be too much on his plate. Off the ice, though, the rookie is still adjusting to the NHL lifestyle.

“We went to dinner the other night and he was just having a great time enjoying the meal,” Carlo said. “It was pretty funny because there was a lot of things where he was like, ‘I’ve never had this before,’ ‘I’ve never had this before,’ and I remember being in that same position. It’s great to see the game through young eyes again. We can all feed off of that energy.”

What’s something Cowan had never had before?

“I think it was like the tuna tartare or something like that,” Carlo revealed with a grin. “One of those meals that I didn’t grow up having in Colorado by any means. We’re like, ‘Yeah, I guess we can get used to it a little bit.’ But I think he liked it.”

All across the league, young players are getting their first taste of what it’s like in the show. Predators forward Luke Evangelista grinned when informed of Cowan’s developing palette and relayed that Nashville rookie Brady Martin enjoyed some upscale dining on Monday night in Toronto.

“We took Martin to Sotto Sotto last night,” he said. “So, that was a new experience for him. Just, you know, getting a little adventurous and experiencing some new things.”

But Predators coach Andrew Brunette indicated that Martin, the fifth-overall pick in June’s draft, will not play against his hometown team on Tuesday.

“We have a plan for him,” Brunette told reporters. “We want to manage him to the best of our abilities. Again, he’s an 18-year-old kid. This is a hard league as it goes forward, but he’s a very competitive kid that’s risen to every challenge, and I’m really excited to have him part of our organization and to watch him grow.”

Martin also sat out Monday’s game in Ottawa.

Cowan’s first taste of NHL includes tuna tartare Maple Leafs defenceman Brandon Carlo jokes about rookie Easton Cowan trying new foods for the first time, while Predators forward Luke Evangelista jokes about teammate Brady Martin getting adventurous with his taste buds as well.

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After Monday’s loss, Berube made it clear the Leafs need more from William Nylander, who has landed just three shots on net in the first three games. The star winger often responds well when publicly challenged by his coach.

“I’ve always said that’s why I think Willy does tremendously well in this market,” said Tavares, who is Nylander’s long-time linemate. “More than anyone, [he] will look himself in the mirror and knows maybe that he can do more, he can play better … He responds really well.”

Nylander scored an empty-net goal in the opening-night win against the Montreal Canadiens, but has not beat a goalie yet this season. He scored a career-high 45 goals last season.

Berube moved Matias Maccelli to the second line for Monday’s game in an attempt to help Nylander and Tavares generate more offensive-zone time.

“I liked a lot of the stuff that line did with Maccelli,” Berube said. “He makes some really sneaky plays in the offensive zone. So, just got to stick with it and see how it turns out. I don’t want to just break it up already. I want to try to stick with it here and get that line going.”

Bobby McMann started the first two games on the second line. Maccelli started the season on the first line with Matthews.

Berube calls out Nylander! Is he right? Three games is all it took for Craig Berube to call out forward William Nylander. Was the Maple Leafs head coach right to call out the star player so publicly and so soon into the season? TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins Domino’s That’s Hockey to discuss, and weigh in if the Leafs are failing to give Nylander the best linemates to excel.

With four new forwards in the mix, Berube is still figuring out the optimal alignment. That process has been complicated by injuries to Lorentz and Scott Laughton (lower body, week to week). Fourth-line winger Calle Jarnkrok is the only Leafs player with multiple goals so far this season.

“Willy, yeah, we need to obviously score goals, right?” Berube said. “But it’s not all on Willy, it’s on all our guys that we depend on the score goals.”

Tavares is still looking for his first goal. Matthews only has one empty-net goal this season, but the Leafs captain fired a game-high eight shots on net on Monday.

“It feels good,” Matthews said. “I had plenty of opportunities and even the night before, the game before, but you’d like to see those go in. But you keep getting those opportunities, you know one’s going to fall and then it’s going to continue to come and just keep rolling on.”

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After spending big in free agency, Nashville started last year with five straight regulation losses and never really recovered en route to finishing 30th overall.

“When you go back to last year, we don’t even like talking about it in this locker room anymore,” said Evangelista. “You go back to last year and it took us like six, seven games to get that first win, and so when you get out of the way early, it kind of relieves the nerves, relieves the pressure. So, we’re just kind of trying to build off the early success.”

After winning in Ottawa on Monday afternoon, the Predators are off to a 2-0-1 start this season.

“With their back end, they get up the ice pretty well,” Carlo noted. “So kind of eliminating that four-man rush will be our goal tonight. [Roman] Josi be up in the play a lot.”

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Projected Leafs lineup for Tuesday’s game:

Knies – Matthews – Cowan

Maccelli – Tavares – Nylander

Robertson – Domi – McMann

Joshua – Roy – Jarnkrok

McCabe – Tanev

Rielly – Carlo

Benoit – Ekman-Larsson

Primeau starts

Stolarz

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