Maple Leafs share good news about key defenceman Chris Tanev after injury scare

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Chris Tanev might not have been hurt as badly as feared for a man who left TD Garden with his arm in a sling on Tuesday night.

While the Toronto’s best all-around defenceman and shot-blocker was not at practice Wednesday afternoon in Boston, along with several other Leafs, coach Craig Brerube told reporters Tanev was “day-to-day” and will stay with the team — though he is unable to play Friday as the team’s trip continues to Manhattan.

A lengthy injury to Tanev would’ve been a blow to the Leafs’ aim to hold first place in the Atlantic Division and affect their plans entering next week’s countdown to the March 7 trade deadline.

He plays almost 20 minutes a game in tandem with regular partner Jake McCabe and is third in NHL in blocks with 151.

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Tanev left the ice with his arm or shoulder in visible discomfort early in Tuesday’s match when after he was checked into the boards on a routine hit by Boston forward Johnny Beecher. The Leafs came back from a 3-0 deficit to win 5-4 in overtime with Berube juggling his remaining five blueliners.

Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson played more than 27 minutes, McCabe 25-plus.

Tanev has missed only one of Toronto’s 58 games in his first season with the team

Berube prefers the vagueness of referring to many injuries as day-to-day, but there have been occasions where the absence stretched into more than a week. After playing the Rangers, the Leafs play a back-to-back in Pittsburgh on Sunday and are home against San Jose on Monday.

Philippe Myers will take Tanev’s spot against the Rangers, adding both size and a right-handed shot of which Tanev is one of the few on the club.

Also missing from Wednesday’s practice was right winger William Nylander, who seemed to be favouring his arm on the bench when Tuesday’s overtime started. Berube said it was a precautionary move to not use him in overtime.

Berube added Nylander was not going to practice Wednesday in any scenario, along with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner as they still need some recovery time for participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off late into last week. Also given the day off the ice were the three aforementioned defencemen.

On the verge of coming back are forwards Calle Jarnkrok from sports hernia surgery, Connor Dewar (upper body) and Max Pacioretty, missing since practices were reinstated last week.

Berube has made no changes through Toronto’s first three post-4 Nations games, which have all been wins.

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby