Kerfoot woes give Spezza a spot

The injuries are piling up for the Maple Leafs.

Third-line centre Alexander Kerfoot is out indefinitely after surgery to repair facial and dental fractures. Kerfoot was hurt in a Nov. 5 game against Los Angeles.

“It was (Jeff ) Carter that got him,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “He’d been under some pain. And obviously he didn’t think it was enough pain (to sit out before), but when the pain wouldn’t go away then we had to deal with. I don’t know what the timeline is.”

The Leafs were already without winger Mitch Marner and had dealt with long absences of centre John Tavares, winger Zach Hyman and defenceman Travis Dermott. Babcock has continually called Kerfoot a pleasant surprise since he arrived in a multiplayer deal with the Avalanche over the summer that sent Nazem Kadri to Colorado. Kerfoot, 25, has five goals and three assists in 20 games this season.

The injury means Jason Spezza has a new lease on life as the third-line centre.

“As a player, you want to get into a rhythm,” said Spezza, who appeared in just 10 of the Leafs’ first 20 games. “So it’s a good opportunity for me to have a good impact in the lineup. We have an important stretch of hockey coming up.

“That’s why you keep yourself sharp.”

Outside of Auston Matthews’ line with Andreas Johnsson and William Nylander, the other lines have had a ramshackle feel all season.

Kasperi Kapanen is back on Tavares’s line, and the remade third line — Ilya Mikheyev, Spezza and Trevor Moore — lost Moore in the first period Friday night.