Maple leafs notebook

Nazem Kadri would love the chance to shut down his old buddy and former teammate,

John Tavares, when the Leafs play the Islanders on Tuesday. But after a tough weekend trying to match up against Henrik

Zetterberg, the 24-year-old centre likely will receive an easier assignment. Kadri was a minus-2 in Friday night’s 4-1 loss to the Red Wings as Zetterberg picked up four assists. The Wings captain scored the overtime winner in Saturday’s 1-0 win, although Kadri wasn’t on the ice for that one. “Well, maybe the coach shouldn’t have put him out there so many times,” head coach Randy Carlyle said of Kadri vs. Zetterberg. “That’s one of the things you look back on and say, ‘Geez, I should have read it differently.’ When things are going on out there in a game, that’s part of the responsibility of us as a staff to not allow that to continue. And we did recognize it.” Tavares is tied with Sidney Crosby with a league-leading nine points and has scored seven goals and 19 points in 17 career games against Toronto. Brandon Kozun, who left Friday’s game with a high-ankle sprain, is expected to be out for a minimum of six weeks. The rookie forward only had one assist and was averaging less than nine minutes per game, but he was a valuable member of a penalty kill that is tied for 13th in the league (86.4%). “We’re going to have to look to some other people to pick up those minutes. We talked to [Peter] Holland about making that part of his everyday contribution.”