Mini-break might help Matthews, not ‘mojo’
Layoff till Lamoriello Bowl while riding four-game streak good news and bad news
BOSTON— It was a wonderful week for the Maple Leafs: four games, four wins and now four days to rest and reflect.
It will be a welcome break in many ways — a chance to get a bit more healthy, to catch their breath, get away for a couple of days and, as coach Mike Babcock joked here Saturday night, “get our guys freshened up so we can skate good again.”
The grind of a season is real and the Leafs will come back to a string of six games in nine nights starting with Thursday’s Lou Lamoriello Bowl against the New Jersey Devils.
Maybe they’ll get injured Auston Matthews back, maybe they won’t (whichever part of his upper body is hurt kept him out of a third straight game here Saturday), but after riding the high of the just-finished week the rest will be welcome.
“We’ll see what goes on there (regarding Matthews’ health),” Babcock said. “I think it’s good for our team to get a day off. We’re going to practise and then take another day off and practise again.”
The Leafs don’t seem to be worried about losing any of the momentum of the week that included two regulation-time wins, another in overtime and one in a shootout. It finished with back-to-back wins over Boston, bringing to six Toronto’s streak of victories over the historically tough Bruins.
The line of Mitch Marner, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk might disagree. They’ve been going well the last couple of games, with Marner and van Riemsdyk scoring in Toronto’s 4-1 win here Saturday.
“I think we’re starting to get some of that mojo and swagger back on our line, and I think we’re getting some bounces now, too, which doesn’t hurt,” said van Riemsdyk, who added an assist to his Saturday night tally. “We want to continue playing this way and go from there.”
The Leafs were successful on Saturday in no small part because of the play of backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney, who made 38 saves.
Given the schedule ahead that finishes with another Friday-Saturday back-to-back, he’s sure to get another shot, and his teammates are sure to remain confident in his abilities.
“Mac was great,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly, who had a goal and an assist Saturday. “We have a lot of faith in him. He’s always there when you need him and tonight was another example of that. He was great, and he made it easy for us to go back and get pucks.”
McElhinney’s last outing before Saturday wasn’t nearly as effective, L.A. scoring three times in the first period of a 5-3 win on Nov. 2.
“Yeah, but if you look at it he’s 2-1, if I’m not mistaken, and he played really good in both games,” Babcock said. “He’s a real good pro. He does it right every day. He supports Freddie (Andersen), he’s a good teammate, he works hard. We’re happy for him.” And for themselves. “It’s a good week for our team,” Babcock said. “Any time you get four wins in a week, it’s a good week. So, good for us.”