Maple Leafs: With long break until next game, Babcock keeps up the intensity at practice

The Maple Leafs don’t play for a week, but they’re not footloose and fancy-free. Coach Mike Babcock won’t allow it. He keeps pumping adrenalin through their central nervous system.

Less than 14 hours after beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in a shootout, the players were back on the ice, already looking ahead to next Tuesday, when Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning are in town.

Babcock doesn’t like the long layoff, but he’s keeping the team sharp with some creative drills. Short passes, quick puck movement. Practice started at noon. It ended at 12:41.

Babcock started by positioning nets at the two blue lines and engaging the players in a feisty three-on-three scrimmage. Toward the end of practice, the players had some fun with one-on-one puck battles in which they cycled the puck down low, with the object to fight off your check and come out in front and score. There is method to this. “Just the competiveness in people over time, you learn to compete harder and harder, and then that happens in the game,” Babcock explained.

“I thought our guys did a nice job today. It wasn’t long, it wasn’t hard, but it was guys doing what they’re supposed to do.”

The highlight-reel goal came from the most unlikely source.

Defenceman Roman Polak, who has yet to score a goal this season, came out smartly in front of the net and fired a laser over goalie Antoine Bibeau’s shoulder.

A roar went up from his teammates. Polak wore the look of somebody who had just scored a Stanley Cup- winning goal, and even the normally stern Babcock beamed.

“When the atmosphere is pretty good and the guys are enjoying themselves, it’s contagious,” Babcock said later. “I thought Poly scored a bigtime goal. I haven’t seen many of those.”

The drills not only keep the mood light, but they are practical because, without a pure sniper on the team, it’s the effort in the one-on-one puck battles that will define this team’s success this season.

Jonathan Bernier should get a chance to contribute as early as Tuesday, when he is due to return from 10-day conditioning stint with the Marlies. Bernier, coming off two shutouts in two starts, is expected to play two more AHL games, likely in Utica on Friday and home to the Comets on Sunday.

Starter James Reimer, who is bat- tling a groin injury, did not practise Wednesday but, with a few more days of rest, he could be slotted in as Bernier’s backup against the Lightning.

Garret Sparks, who is 3-1 in four starts since his call-up from the Marlies, may have played his last NHL game in a while.

He knows his NHL career, however, is far from over.

“It’s been fun,” said, six-foot-two, 200-pound Sparks, who was the Leafs’ seventh-round pick, No. 190 overall, in the 2011 NHL entry draft. “I know the future ultimately is going to be good. I’m not impatient.

“I’m not exempt from the process that everyone else is going through just because I’ve had success. I still have things in the AHL that I want to work on. As a 22-year-old goalie, I would like to think I’m a little bit ahead of the game right now.”

Although most Leaf players don’t like the way the schedule breaks down like this, especially with a host of back-to-back games coming up, there is one player who is looking forward to some time at home.

“I just had a son, so it’s nice we’re home for a week,” centre Tyler Bozak said. “We’ve been on the road a lot, and it’s tough being away. It’s going to be fun spending time with him.”

A reporter followed with a quip: “So, you’re not into sleep?” Bozak smiled. “Yeah, I mean, the night before games I’ll make sure I get the sleep I need,” he said. “But for this week, I’m sure I’ll going to lose a little (sleep), but that’s OK.”

NOTE: Injured veteran forward Joffrey Lupul did not practise but he is skating on his own. He has missed five games. No return date has been set.