TORONTO – The latest injury to knock a player out of the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup is a strange one. Peter Holland looked totally fine while playing through Thursday’s win over Florida, but found himself on crutches two days later.
“It’s a new one for me,” Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said before his team played Ottawa on Saturday. “To me, it’s crazy.”
His injury is officially listed as “lace bite” – a term that high-level hockey players are familiar with, but not one the public often hears about. Essentially, the injury is an inflammation of the tendons on the top of the foot and ankle, which occurs when that area rubs against a stiff skate tongue.
As in Holland’s case, it most often happens when a player is wearing new skates. Carlyle has been around hockey for a long time and has rarely, if ever, seen a case where the injury forces a player to miss a game.
“A guy wears a pair of new skates in the morning, plays the game that night and the next morning he’s got lace bite,” said Carlyle. “Go figure. I’m at a loss to explain it. All I know is that the kid’s got a foot that’s swollen up where it’s non-weight bearing.”
Others seemed much more sympathetic. Former NHLer Matthew Barnaby once missed a game because of the injury and said on Twitter that it “feels like someone is cutting (you) with a knife.”
Ottawa Senators captain Jason Spezza has also experienced lace bite on a handful of occasions during his 11-year NHL career and could understand why it might keep Holland from suiting up.
“It’s actually terrible,” said Spezza. “It comes from nowhere. It sounds like a silly injury and something that doesn’t make much sense but when it gets you it’s pretty bad.”
The injury comes at a time when the Leafs have been humming along with an 8-1-1 record over their last 10 games – the last nine of which were played after Holland’s most recent call-up from the American Hockey League.
Even though the 23-year-old has only contributed one assist during that stretch, his presence as the third line centre seems to have brought a little more balance to Toronto’s forward lines. It appeared that Greg McKegg, another rookie, would take his place in the lineup against the Senators – although Carlyle had yet to confirm that to him immediately after the morning skate.
“You’ve just got to be ready,” said McKegg, a third-round draft pick in 2010 who is looking to make his NHL debut. “It would be a dream come true.”
The only other lineup uncertainty for the Leafs involved fourth-line winger Carter Ashton, who was sporting a heavily bandaged right hand on Saturday morning. Carlyle called him questionable. Frazer McLaren, who has played just two games in more than a month, was the most likely candidate to draw in.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Bernier appeared set to make his third straight start in goal for Toronto against Craig Anderson. The veteran Sens goalie has won three of his last four starts.
The Senators enter the night six points behind the Leafs in the Atlantic Division – but hold two games in hand – and were focused on continuing their recent climb up the standings. They are 5-2-3 over their last 10 games and feeling confident as a result.
“Our overall team game was good (in January), our structure was good,” said Ottawa coach Paul MacLean. “I thought our special teams was a big part of it. As a result, our goaltending was able to keep up with the amount of goals we’ve been scoring.”
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ONE-TIMERS
Clarke MacArthur, who spent three seasons with the Leafs prior to signing in Ottawa, is on pace for a career-high 27 goals and 63 points … Leafs winger Nazem Kadri has seven points in his last four games … Senators defenceman Erik Karlsson is third in the NHL in ice time with 27:22 per game … Toronto is 14-3-6 in one-goal games … Both teams are averaging 2.8 goals for per game and 3.0 against … Cody Franson leads Toronto with 200 hits while Carl Gunnarsson is tops with 124 blocked shots … The Leafs own the NHL’s third-ranked power play … Ottawa has dropped its last five meetings against Toronto … The Senators are marginally better on the road this season than at home – going 12-9-5 away from Canadian Tire Centre so far … Ottawa has 14 players on its roster that were drafted by the organization while the Leafs have just five.
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QUICK QUOTES
“They skate well, they have a good power play, they have some dangerous players over there and they’ve got good goaltending. They’re definitely a good hockey club.” – Senators captain Jason Spezza on the Leafs.
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“We need to garner points. We’re heading out on the road here for two (games), this is our last opportunity at home for a week, and we’re playing a very good hockey club that’s coming in here and playing very well. They’re scoring lots of goals and seem to have their mojo back. It’s an important game.” – Leafs coach Randy Carlyle.
