Leafs notebook: Matthews pleased with Tavares’ multi-point debut
Auston Matthews was happy that John Tavares scored two goals in his first pre-season game against the Ottawa Senators.
“It was great to see,” Matthews said. “I’m sure it was a sigh of relief with all the commotion around him. He looked good out there. Trying to finetune getting ready. He’s only going to get better.”
Matthews led the group of Leafs that didn’t play in the opener in Lucan on Tuesday to a rematch in Ottawa on Wednesday. The Leafs are evenly divided at the moment. They’ll have two more games in their current alignment Friday and Saturday in a home-and-him against the Buffalo Sabres.
“You want to get into a rhythm early, even in pre-season, get a feel for your linemates, pace of play,” said Matthews. “It’s a jump up from here to the regular season. That’s what you have to get ready for.”
The next round of cuts are expected Sunday. YOUNG GUN: The youngest player in Leafs camp is centre Semyon Der-Arguchintsev — or SDA — who just turned 18 on Sept. 15. That, coincidentally, was the last day to be eligible for the 2018 draft. The Leafs took the skilled, if undersized at five-foot-ten, 160 pounds, Peterborough Pete in the third round.
“It feels great to be around NHL guys,” Der-Arguchintsev said. “It’s a great experience to learn as much as I can here. It’s going to be good for me to go back to junior and dominate.
“I learn the way guys work on the ice, and off the ice. Little things, like make hard passes, do everything right.”
Without a word of English, the Moscow native moved to Canada — on his own — at 14 to play major bantam in Ottawa. DerArguchintsev had 12 goals and 39 assists in 68 games in his second year in Peterborough.
“I hope I’ll play a little bit more, have a bigger role,” said DerArguchintsev. “My goal is to be a dominant player in the OHL.”
He said he models his game after Mitch Marner.
“I’m not even close to that. He’s really good.” SHOULDER INJURY: Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Travis Dermott missed practice “with a shoulder problem and he’s day-to-day.” Dermott suffered his injury late in the second period Tuesday against Ottawa. Interestingly, Babcock did not describe it as an “upper body” injury as has been the norm in Toronto since the days of coach Pat Quinn.
HARD SHOT: Goalie Garret Sparks says forward Josh Leivo has the most deceptive shot on the team. “I don’t know if it’s technique, or just natural raw skill, release, instinct. Whatever you want to call it. It’s just really hard to pick up. Adam Cracknell can really rip the biscuit.
“I don’t think it’s a speed or hardness thing. Look at the goal Mitch Marner scored (Tuesday). It was on his stick and off his stick in a fraction of a second, off the post and in. What are you honestly supposed to do about that as a goalie?”