TORONTO – Serenity now.
And not a minute too soon for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
What stood out most heading into Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers was that it was Toronto’s opponent, for a change, that was dealing with turmoil. The Rangers held a closed-door meeting following a 5-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night and didn’t have much time to regroup before arriving at Air Canada Centre.
The Leafs, meanwhile, are enjoying a three-game winning streak and can finally breathe a little easier now that HBO’s “24/7” cameras have gone home and a tough December schedule is behind them – not to mention all of the hype that came with the Jan. 1 Winter Classic.
“We’re looking forward to just getting back here and playing a regular game,” Leafs winger Joffrey Lupul said after the morning skate. “No cameras, no minus-20 temperatures. It will be nice to just be back out here at ACC.”
While many of the familiar issues have remained during the Leafs current winning run – the team is still being outshot 36.4-27.3 on average this season – coach Randy Carlyle believes his team has made some improvements at possessing the puck. Toronto has also been bailed out by goaltender Jonathan Bernier and is showing an improved proficiency in the shootout.
Bernier was expected to make a career-high fifth-straight start in goal on Saturday night and is riding a .951 save percentage over the previous four. That has bumped his overall total this season to .931, good for fifth among NHL starters, and sparked talk that he has officially wrestled the No. 1 job away from James Reimer.
Carlyle didn’t exactly pour cold water on that theory.
“There are times when you look at it and say: ‘Is this the time?’ Well I’m not ready quite yet to say that he’s this or he’s that,” Carlyle said of Bernier.
The Rangers were expected to start backup Cam Talbot against a team they are trying to catch for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Talbot was in goal when New York beat the Leafs 2-1 on Dec. 23 and has started earning more playing time recently than longtime No. 1 Henrik Lundqvist.
Toronto appeared poised to dress the same lineup as it had for Wednesday’s 3-2 shootout win over Detroit in front of more than 100,000 fans at the Big House. That meant newcomer Tim Gleason – acquired earlier this week from Carolina for John-Michael Liles and prospect Dennis Robertson – would have to wait for his Leafs debut.
The team was fortunate that it had Lupul available following a cross-check to the neck of Patrick Eaves at the Winter Classic. He had a long chat with the NHL’s department of player safety on Friday for an incident he openly acknowledged “was not a good play,” but only ended up getting fined $10,000 by the league.
Lupul believes the mitigating factors on the play helped him avoid a suspension: He was hit by Detroit’s Jakub Kindl immediately before it and kept the blade of his stick on the ice while going after Eaves.
“I got hit right before along the boards and I got up and I certainly was seeing stars,” said Lupul. “I don’t know if that had to do with getting hit in the jaw or whether it came with getting hit in the jaw when it’s minus-20 out, but it certainly didn’t feel that great.”
Besides that, the Leafs seem to be feeling as well as they have been in a month or more. Whether that continues will depend on if they can ride some momentum after surviving a tough stretch and delivering a big victory at the Big House.
Saturday’s game will certainly be a little different experience than their last one.
“It’ll be indoors, it won’t be snowing,” said Carlyle. “(The Winter Classic) was an event that we participated in and now it’s time to move on. That’s what our focus has to be. We were fortunate enough to win in a shootout in a real tough situation so hopefully we can use this as a building block for our group.
“We feel a lot better about ourselves in the last little while and we just need a performance to support that now.”
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ONE-TIMERS
New York is 11-3-2 in its last 16 games against Toronto … Seven of the Leafs next 11 games will be played on the road … The Rangers are 4-3-0 in the second half of back-to-backs this season … Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf is averaging 24 minutes 27 seconds per night – his lowest total since 2009-10 in Calgary … Phil Kessel leads the Leafs in scoring with 38 points while Mats Zuccarello tops the Rangers with 30 … New York is 16-2-1 when scoring first … The next point for Leafs centre Jay McClement will be the 200th of his NHL career … The Leafs are 7-4 in shootouts this season, with winger Joffrey Lupul going 5-for-5 on his attempts … The next meeting between the teams comes March 5 at Madison Square Garden.
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QUICK QUOTES
“We think it’s a positive. We think those players have earned the opportunity and we support them in their endeavor to go to the Olympics, it’s the chance of a lifetime. … (But) coming back to here after sometimes the emotions are flat, some people don’t have anything left.” – Leafs coach Randy Carlyle on James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel being named to the U.S. Olympic team.
“I think this is a bit more aggressive, especially in the defensive zone. There’s no time to hesitate.” – Tim Gleason on the difference between playing for the Leafs and Carolina, his former team.