Forwards in line for change
Tavares injury forces Babcock to shake up his offensive units
With the index and middle fingers of his right hand taped together, John Tavares emerged from the Maple Leafs’ training room on Friday trying to look at the bright side of the injury that will keep him out of the lineup for at least two weeks.
“I feel disappointed, a little frustrated but, at same time, I know it could be worse,” Tavares said.
The Leafs captain, who has three goals and four assists in eight games this season, broke the finger on a Morgan Rielly shot in the third period of a 4-3 loss to Washington on Wednesday. He stayed in the game and scored late a goal to bring the Leafs to within one.
“Pretty much soon as the puck hit me — Morgan’s shot there late in the third — it went pretty numb,” Tavares said. “So I didn’t feel very good and just went back to the bench and it was a little more painful but obviously the adrenalin (was going) and the inflammation really hadn’t settled in, so I just finished the game.
“Honestly, it didn’t feel like it was too bad. We just have to be smart and not put myself at long-term risk. (But) I was really hopeful that it was something I would be able to play with.”
That hope was dashed after a talk with the team’s medical staff. And it set in motion a series of changes to the Leafs’ lines, most notably Mitch Marner — the team’s leading scorer up front and the only healthy player from last season’s top line — joining what had been the third line with Ilya Mikheyev and Alex Kerfoot. They’re now the second line.
“Guys got to step up and be ready for a bigger role now, and I think everyone is,” Marner said.
Jason Spezza gets a reprieve from being a healthy scratch, joining Trevor Moore and Kasperi Kapanen on a newly formed third line. William Nylander gets Tavares’s spot on the first power play. Spezza gets Nylander’s spot on the second power play.
At least until the first period Saturday night against Boston.
“We spent the full day (talking lines),” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said.
“I got everybody’s input ... everyone had a different theory. And then we walked through all the options.
“Nothing is set in stone ... but this for warm-up, for sure.”
The bigger question the Leafs must answer is how will they deal with losing their captain — and one of their top two centres — for a prolonged period of time. The Bruins are doing OK without David Krejci. The Penguins are doing OK without Evgeni Malkin. And the Leafs went 9-5-0 in a 14-game stretch without Auston Matthews last season.
“We dealt with some injuries to some key players and handled it well, and a lot of that leadership corps is back and we will be able to deal with it,” Tavares said. “That’s part of the season, part of hockey. There are always ups and downs, and guys that miss time, (guys that) have injuries.
“And we’ve had all four lines contribute so far. It’s huge to have that kind of depth and that kind of contribution and (this) just creates great opportunity for someone else.”
Spezza gets the biggest opportunity. The 36-year-old veteran has played in just three of the Leafs’ eight games, earning one assist.
“You don’t like seeing Johnny get hurt, at all,” Spezza said. “He’s a big part of our team and good teams always have to go through injuries. This will give us a chance to prove that we can keep winning games without Johnny.”
Spezza has played mostly fourth-line minutes, averaging just 9:54 of playing time. He practised Friday with Moore and Kapanen, a couple of speedsters with some offensive flair.
The Matthews line remains intact, but Matthews will see tougher matchups at home. He usually gets them on the road when the Leafs don’t have the last change. But without Tavares, Babcock will have to play Matthews against the other team’s top lines, starting Saturday against the Bruins’ top line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand.
“We have to try to make sure that we play well in our own zone and play well without the puck,” Matthews said. “Especially against their top line. They can obviously move it around, and they’re really solid, probably the top line in the league. So we’ve got to be careful out there and not turn the puck over.”