New-look Maple Leafs home to face Florida Panthers, but unlikely Chris Tanev plays
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With three games against the Florida Panthers, boosted by two trade deadline additions, the Maple Leafs’ first-place fate is very much in their own hands.
But they’ll still likely be without lynchpin defenceman Chris Tanev on Thursday when the Cats come into Scotiabank Arena to start the cycle that concludes April 2 (home) and April 8 (road).
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New-look Maple Leafs home to face Florida Panthers, but unlikely Chris Tanev plays Back to video
Tanev, who has had a few practices recovering from an upper-body injury on Feb. 25 in Boston, looked fine on Wednesday, the team’s first home workout in almost three weeks. He said he was doing well within “the timeline given to us” by the medical staff, only to have coach Craig Berube insist “I don’t really have a timeline. He’s close. We’ll make a decision tomorrow.”
Not that Berube wouldn’t want to push for Tanev to get back Thursday with his regular partner, Jake McCabe, even if the defending Stanley Cup champion won’t have the injured Matthew Tkachuk or Brad Marchand in its lineup as they seek to extend a two-point lead on Toronto.
“I always use the analogy when I had Chris Pronger (in Philadelphia), how much he could control a game,” Berube said of the Hart Trophy winner. “It was a different way, but Tanev controls a lot for us in situational play.”
Tanev’s more optimistic tone might indicate he’s back in, for sure, on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators.
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“It’s check the boxes and when that’s (done), I’ll be playing,” Tanev said. “I’ve been hurt a lot, I’ll leave it at that. They’re all hard (to get through).
“It sucks, obviously. You want to be playing every night. Fortunately, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot.”
As Tanev spoke, centre Scott Laughton and defenceman Brandon Carlo were removing their gear and taking in their new surroundings at the Ford Centre practice rink. Thursday will be their SBA introduction. The Oakville-born Laughton had an autopilot kick in the nearer he drove to the rink.
“I used to work out here about 10 years ago,” the career Philadelphia Flyer recalled. “A weird feeling because that’s usually in the summertime. But for me to be close to my family and have dinner with my brother-in-law last night was cool. I feel very fortunate.”
Laughton traced his Leafs fan era to the 2003-04 team that featured Darcy Tucker, Shayne Corson, Bryan McCabe. Tomas Kaberle, and Mats Sundin. He listened to their games on radio coming back from minor hockey practice with his father, Craig.
“I’ll have family and friends come tomorrow and I’m very excited for what’s to come. All you want is a chance (in the playoffs) and you get that here — big games in a big spotlight. It’s cool to be on the other side of it.”
Carlo, the big blueliner departed a Boston team that was in a dire playoff situation, but he can now influence a first-place run.
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‘Meaningful games are all you want to be playing and we’ll have an opportunity to do that down the stretch and into the playoffs,” he said. “You just want to embrace those challenges head on.”
Florida won the head-ot-head opener with ease back in late November at home, though the Leafs rallied a few nights later in Tampa Bay, which is currently three points behind them at present. Toronto plays the Lighting the night after the final game versus Florida. The Panthers have won eight of their past 10, while the Leafs arrested a three-game losing streak by completing their past road trip with a shootout win in Utah.
“These are important games for us, but I’m sure they’re saying the same things in their locker room,” said winger Matthew Knies. “These are like playoff games, every point matters and I think it will come down to the last game of the season. But I really believe in our group and I think we’ll have a really good push at the end for (first place).”
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