Maple Leafs get good news on Tanev but others must step up
In Tanev’s absence, righty Philippe Myers will jump into the lineup, while veterans Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson will be leaned on more heavily, as they were in Tuesday’s rollicking 5-4 comeback win over the Bruins.
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BOSTON — Exhale, Leafs Nation.
Although Chris Tanev walked out of TD Garden with his right arm in a sling as his downbeat coach detailed all the defensive warrior’s gritty attributes and stressed his importance to the team, further examination has revealed the defenceman’s “upper body” injury to not be as serious as feared.
“Day to day. That’s good news,” Berube announced Wednesday, following a spottily attended Toronto Maple Leafs practice at Warrior Ice rink in Boston.
“We’re happy about it.”
Whew.
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Tanev did miss practice and is doubtful to suit up Friday, when the Leafs face the wild-card-hunting New York Rangers in Manhattan, but he has remained with the team on its four-game road trip.
In Tanev’s absence, righty Philippe Myers will jump into the lineup, while veterans Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson will be leaned on more heavily, as they were in Tuesday’s rollicking 5-4 comeback win over the Bruins.
Rielly logged a whopping 27:42 in the OT win, while Ekman-Larsson skated 27:25. Both finished the night with plus-3 beside their name and combined for six points.
“I thought Mo and OEL were great last night. Yeah, they’re gonna have to step up, but all the D are gonna have to step up and do the job,” Berube said. “They all gotta dig in and step up.”
In addition to ranking third leaguewide in shot blocks, Tanev handily leads all Leafs with a plus-26 rating, despite drawing the toughest shutdown assignments.
“You want him on the ice 60 minutes a game,” raved Max Pacioretty. “He’s a one-man breakout machine. He does what it takes for the team to win hockey games, blocking huge shots, making really good, strong defensive plays that don’t always get recognized by everybody. But in that room, we sure recognize it.”
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Also recognized in the Toronto room: Fatigue is real.
Maintenance days were awarded to Rielly, Ekman-Larsson, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Jake McCabe, and William Nylander in the wake of Tuesday’s extra-time victory. It was Toronto’s third win in three cities over four nights.
Nylander suffered an undisclosed injury in the third period of the game due to contact and, thus, did not see the ice in overtime.
But Berube assured the star winger’s ailment is minor and that he could well play Friday.
Same goes for the improving Pacioretty, who got banged up in a practice ramping up for post 4 Nations Face-Off action and hasn’t played since.
“Something that just popped up,” said Pacioretty, who was impressed by his teammates’ resilience Tuesday in rallying from a 3-0 deficit on the road.
“Back against the wall with five D and obviously a lot of hockey here for the guys that played in that tournament. So, it means a lot. It was an emotional win. You could feel, by the way they came in the room after the game, that emotions were high. And got to keep that emotion up every game.”
