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It will be another night where opportunity knocks for some reserves on the Maple Leafs.
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They’ll be missing three veterans at home Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks, defencemen Morgan Rielly (suspension), Mark Giordano (bereavement after his father died suddenly on Thursday) and captain John Tavares up front with a minor injury.
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It was determined goalie Martin Jones is good enough to start after a few days resting his own undisclosed issue, as coach Sheldon Keefe decided it was best to give Ilya Samsonov a rest with two games already under his belt this week and a Monday afternoon start in St. Louis beginning a busy Western U.S. road trip.
The Leafs look to use both William Lagesson (24 NHL games this year) and Marlie call-up Max Lajoie (four) on their bottom six pairing, as well as moving Max Domi up one rung to centre William Nylander and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Keefe gave a spirited defence of Bertuzzi’s paltry six goals to date, insisting he will have a strong role in the final months of the season towards playoffs.
This will be the first time defenceman Radko Gudas meets the Leafs since last year’s elimination game against Florida when Gudas got in goalie Joseph Woll’s face to rub it in after his team’s overtime goal. Gudas missed the first meeting last month in Anaheim with the flu.
The moment the bearded, physical Gudas roared at Woll like the MGM lion became a widely circulated photo and to many, a symbol of the Leafs’ lacking playoff toughness.
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When enforcer Ryan Reaves was added to Toronto’s roster in the summer, there was an implied dare to Gudas to try such intimidation again, which could add some spice to Saturday.
“It’s not like I’m going after him or anything, but I will have my eye on him,” Reaves said Saturday morning.
Gudas said he’s rather bewildered by the ongoing fallout of last spring.
“I was celebrating the goal we’d scored finally. People here still can’t sleep over it so that’s really something. But it’s one of the moments that happens in that second in an emotional high.”
Of more relevent concern to the Leafs is avoiding a repeat of their close result against the Ducks, who nearly upset when Lukas Dostal made 55 saves on 104 shot attempts. Auston Matthews won it in overtime after the back-up for the seventh-place Ducks nearly stole the point.
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“We have to do a better job of trying to get in his eyes,” said Toronto winger Mitch Marner.
Matthews had a natural hat trick Thursday against Philadelphia after Bobby McMann scored three the game before against St. Louis. No NHL team the past 30 years has recorded tricks in three straight games.
Anaheim coach Greg Cronin, an assistant in Toronto in the early 2010s, said the Leafs “check all the boxes analytically … we have to do a good job stopping their possession when they roll out of the corners and get their defence involved.
“Matthews had about 100 shots the last time. He’s a hard guy to handle, he’s long, he adjusts his shot, he has great timing. I don’t have a specific game plan for him. He’s going to get his shots, hopefully they’re outside the real dangerous areas and we can minimize the scoring chances.”
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