Coach mum on Matthews
Unfortunately for fans and media, Mike Babcock was true to his word about keeping Auston Matthews’s medical condition a secret.
“Day-to-day,” the coach said tersely on Friday morning. It was an indication the team’s leading scorer, who hasn’t practised with the team in four days with a suspected back problem, may not return until next Thursday against the New Jersey Devils as the Leafs have four days off after the home and home with Boston concludes.
Whenever Babcock invokes dayto-day as a habit it usually means the injured player will be gone a week to 10. But not everyone at the ACC was disappointed to be missing Matthews.
“What a relief,” quipped Boston defenceman Charlie McAvoy.
Silent Marner
Mitch Marner was not panicking about having just one goal through 17 games to go with eight assists. He has been blanked since the opener in Winnipeg.
“Not really,” Marner said about getting down on himself for missing on 27 other shots on goal. “It’s always been a kind of ‘pass first’ thing in my mind. I don’t worry too much about that stuff. We’re winning hockey games and that’s the most important thing to me.” Babcock had his own take.
“The harder he forechecks, the more he has the puck, the harder he backchecks, the more he has the puck. When you get yourself in a spot like this, you have to work your way out of it. How many shots on goal do you get, how much are you around the net? Those are the simple measures.”
Loose Leafs
Brad Marchand has become a Babcock enthusiast since working under him at the World Cup. “It’s not easy playing for him, he demands a lot,” Marchand said. “He expects his players to be very good. But he brings pluses. You see how things have changed around (in Toronto) the past couple of years and it’s only going to get better.” ... Toronto defenceman Nikita Zaitsev played in his 100th NHL game Friday for the Leafs ... Being 6-feet-9 and 250 pounds has its advantages. When the Bruins are in Toronto, hulking defenceman Zdeno Chara gets one of the two large goalie stalls in the visiting dressing room. But with No. 1 Tuukka Rask claiming the other by seniority, Friday night’s starter Anton Khudobin was jammed into a skater’s cubicle.