Marincin out for up to six weeks
Defenceman suffered lower-body injury in win over Bruins
Maple Leafs defenceman Martin Marincin will miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.
The 24-year-old was injured in Toronto’s 4-1win in Boston on Saturday when he fell into the boards at TD Garden, shoved at least partially by Bruins centre David Krejci.
“How is that not a penalty?” Toronto Mike Babcock could be heard yelling at officials that night.
Emerging down the stretch last season Marincin has been an inconsistent presence in Toronto’s lineup this season, appearing in 16 games while getting scratched occasionally. Twenty-two-year-old Connor Carrick has replaced Marincin in the lineup over the last week, lining up alongside Jake Gardiner on the Leafs’ second defensive pairing. BEING FRANK: Leafs defenceman Frank Corrado’s patience with being a healthy scratch is wearing thin. It may also be wearing out.
Corrado, who has played once this season, told the website The Athletic on Thursday that he would like to get achance to play, like everyone else on the team.
“Everyone on our back end gets a chance to play except me. I’d love to play. I had a good camp, I put on 10 pounds this summer … I sacrificed a lot to earn a job here when there might not have been one for me.”
Corrado, claimed on waivers from Vancouver at the opening of the 2015-16 season, appeared in 39 games last season. The 23-year-old Toronto native is on a one-way contract, which means the Leafs are not likely to place him on waivers and risk getting nothing in return should a team claim him.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock said he has always talked to Corrado about his playing situation, and sounded perturbed the blueliner leaked his feelings to the media.
“This is what I’m disappointed in,” Babcock said. “Whether you get in the lineup or not is based on how you play, period. Nothing personal … It’s just unfortunate that he feels that way, that’s too bad. We talk quite a bit and we’ll talk again, but he’s a young guy, he’s frustrated. He had his chance with the media . . . and that’s life.” SHOOTOUT SABBATICAL: The Leafs shootout record sits at 0-5, and the team is beginning to feel the heat for the resulting points lost in the standings.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock elected to have a team meeting Friday — no on-ice workout, which may have included some practice on shootout situations. Babcock, though, said the team will work on the shootout in Saturday’s morning skate prior to the game against Pittsburgh.
“When things are going really good, you can practise the shootout all the time,” Babcock said. “It’s reinforcement, it feels good. When it doesn’t go good, you’re more careful about it. We’ve tried to build it into our prac- tice. We have to find a way to win the shootout, because confidence comes from that.” CROSSING TOWN: The Leafs recalled goaltender Jhonas Enroth from the Marlies on Friday afternoon, returning 22-year-old Antoine Bibeau to their AHL affiliate. Enroth was waived and then demoted earlier this month after stumbling through his first four starts as a Leaf.
The 28-year-old made one appearance for the Marlies, stopping 24 of 27 shots in a 5-3 win. With files from Mark Zwolinski