Kadri dominoes fall Johnsson’s way
Rookie moves on to Leafs’ fourth line, will see power-play time
Andreas Johnsson sat in a stall in the corner of the visitors room at the TD Garden with that omnipresent smile of his and declared: “I’m ready.”
The rookie speedster was the direct beneficiary of playing time when Nazem Kadri was suspended for three games for a dangerous check to the head of Tommy Wingels. It is Kadri’s fourth suspension.
There were reverberations throughout the lineup Friday. Kadri didn’t practise and others were moved around — Patrick Marleau to centre with Zach Hyman as his left winger, and Leo Komarov to the top line to get a little bit more Brad Marchand face time.
And Johnsson, a rookie, looks to be getting his first NHL playoff action, as he slid on to the fourth line and took Kadri’s place on the top power-play unit. He’s played in the playoffs in the American Hockey League and the Swedish elite league, so he thinks he has a good idea what to expect.
“It’s playoff hockey, everything is tighter, everyone is skating hard, everyone finishes their check. It’s going to be a lot of hits and high tempo out there. It’s the playoffs. Everyone wants to win.”
Johnsson had a few thoughts on Game1, when the Leafs were dominated by the Bruins and lost 5-1.
“It’s momentum,” he said. “I feel like when it was 1-1 in the second period, we had a lot of chances, and we didn’t score. Then they got the chances, and they scored, and they got the momentum and energy with that. I feel like if we could have scored with the chances we had, it would be (the) opposite (result).”
Johnsson’s speed and skill will be welcome, but the Leafs will need more from the rest of the team if they’re going to have any success against the Bruins.
It was quite possible coach Mike Babcock would have juggled his lines anyway, since he tried to get Komarov out against Marchand in Game 1. The matchup will be easier since Boston coach Bruce Cassidy seems intent on playing the line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak against Auston Matthews.
“I think the biggest thing is (Komarov) was competitive (Thursday) night,” Babcock said. “We’re trying to get the most competitive people involved as much as we possibly can. We think he’s been getting better. He’s been off. Wasn’t as good when he first got back. He needs to be a factor.”
Wingels didn’t practise for the Bruins on Friday.
Between Kadri’s prolonged absence and a terrible first effort, adversity has hit the Maple Leafs early in the series.
“No. 1 is, it’s probably good for us,” Babcock said. “If you played like we did, you deserve a little adversity — and then how are we going to handle it? We’re a better team than (that). As much as we prepared and talked to it, they competed harder than we did and, in the end, if you don’t compete harder than the other team, you can’t win. We got what we deserved in the end. So we have a day here to get regrouped.
Regrouping included video work to go over mistakes and discuss how to be better.
“We didn’t make them earn the goals they got,” Hyman said. “There were goals that were preventable. They played hard. We have to play better.”
When they took the ice, it certainly didn’t look right to see Hyman play on someone other than Matthews’ wing.
“It will be weird because we’ve played so much with each other over the last (two) years,” Matthews said. “You’ve got to make adjustments.”
“We have played with different guys,” Hyman said. “Auston was out for 20 games. We were shuffling the lines then. Playing with Marleau and Marner, it’s good. It’s a good shakeup.”