TORONTO — Amid a dismal stretch that’s seen the Toronto Maple Leafs endure five straight losses on home ice, the beleaguered hockey club was granted a change of scenery Friday as it looks to right the ship.
Preparing to host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers under the Scotiabank Arena lights on Saturday (Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. ABT), the Maple Leafs took the field at the Rogers Centre for an off-ice workout in the Toronto Blue Jays’ facilities — and some batting practice, too. According to the team, the visit had been planned for this particular date weeks ago. It arrived with the club desperate to shake up its current situation.
“I hope it gives us some energy,” head coach Jim Hiller said after the group concluded their meetings and an on-field workout. “Just gets us away from our regular routine a little bit, which, you know, hasn’t given us the best results.”
The club heads into Saturday’s affair fresh off a 5-2 loss to Minnesota, after dropping games to Colorado, New Jersey, Montreal and Utah, too. While there’s plenty on the ice in need of fine-tuning, plenty in their approach in need of correcting, the team sees value, too, in taking a step back and taking a breath amid a particularly trying stretch of the campaign.
“Going through something like we’re going through right now, it just takes everyone coming together to get out of it. It’s not easy,” Leafs forward Nick Paul said Friday. “So, something like today — you know, kind of take your mind off it, reset. Obviously, we know what’s at hand tomorrow, we’re going to prepare. But just being out here, being together, getting a little closer, it always is helpful.”
For Paul and fellow hometown boy Darren Raddysh, the visit to the Blue Jays’ park meant a little more.
“It’s always nice to come see this, especially being a kid from Toronto,” Raddysh said. “You know, growing up idolizing the Maple Leafs and watching the Blue Jays every summer, it’s pretty special. Can’t thank them enough for letting us come use the facility today and, you know, kind of live out every little kid’s dream, to be a part of the Toronto sports scene.
“Last night, before I went to bed, I knew we were coming here, I Googled what it was going to look like. It’s got to be the best in baseball. … They got everything. Anything you can name, they’ve got it all.”
A few Maple Leafs trickled back onto the field after meetings and media duties were wrapped up, picking up bats and gloves, testing out their skill on the diamond. Eventually, the majority of the team came back out to take their turn trying to make contact, or testing their glove in the outfield. The day off the ice wound up a welcome change of pace for the captain, too, given his own history in the sport.
“It’s great. It’s always fun — definitely brings me back to childhood, playing baseball. I know a few guys played growing up as well, so it’s cool,” Auston Matthews said. “It’s a long season. I think it’s good to get your mind off of things, get your mind off of hockey sometimes, and just with life, too.”
Lighthearted afternoon aside, the Maple Leafs have another difficult test looming. After falling to the top squad in the West on Thursday, they have to contend with the conference’s second-best on Saturday — and with McDavid in prolific form, the Oilers captain having amassed an absurd 49 points through 20 games this season.
“It’s obviously a very big challenge. I mean, every time, but obviously the way that he’s been playing this year, it’s a big challenge for us,” Matthews said of facing off against No. 97. “I think we can look back to the game just a few weeks ago, the way we played — the way we had to play, the attention to detail that you have to have against that team, especially going up against those guys.
“We definitely need that tomorrow. We need to be at our best.”
Matthews and Co. took down the Oilers 7-2 in Edmonton late last month, in what was one of the blue-and-white’s finest showings of the campaign. Since that win, Toronto has lost seven of eight.
“I just think the way we took care of the puck was great,” Matthews said of that last outing against the Oilers. “Tracking, special teams, everything. It can’t just be really good in a couple areas and lacklustre in the others. It’s got to be really solid all throughout our game and our lineup.”
Key to the equation for these Leafs is cleaning up the unforced errors — namely the ill-timed turnovers that have led to rushes toward their own cage too many times.
“There always are going to be mistakes in the game. There always are,” Hiller said Friday. “When you make one mistake, you hope that there’s a second player there to clean up the mistake — and if there isn’t, you don’t want to compound it and make it worse. And, in some of these cases, we’ve made two or three in a row, and that ends up in the back of your net. There always will be some — we need to do a better job of cleaning up the first one rather than compounding it.”
The head coach declined to get into specifics regarding what he discussed with his team after Thursday’s loss.
“I’ll keep that private. We had a really good meeting. Let’s see,” he said. “Let’s get ready for tomorrow and play. I’ve said it more than once — we have to own where we’re at, and what’s gone on, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be the best version of ourselves tomorrow.”
MacEwan’s breakout continues with Rogers Centre display
After putting up his finest performance of the season Thursday — potting a goal and setting up another in Toronto’s loss to Minnesota — Zack MacEwan kept it rolling Friday with a quality showing at the plate.
The 30-year-old Charlottetown product looked most at home among the Maple Leafs who picked up a bat, spraying homers into the Rogers Centre stands and drawing cheers from his mates.
“I saw Mac hitting a few out of the park, so I’m going to have to give it to him,” Raddysh said, when asked who seemed the best ballplayer on the roster. "He’s got some power."
“I snuck one out, MacEwan put one into the second level there — just straight power,” Matthews added. “It’s fun. I love it. Grew up playing baseball, so it’s always fun to be able to do some batting practice, and just come out here and throw it around a little bit.”
Others on the squad were less taken with MacEwan’s dominance at the plate.
“I mean, he’s been in there for 40 minutes,” Paul said with a chuckle. “He’s hogging it, so I’d expect him to be hitting. But no, he’s a good athlete.”
Asked who seemed most out of place off the ice, the winger didn’t hesitate.
“Surprisingly (Brandon) Duhaime’s been horrible. And he looks the most like a baseball player,” Paul said with a smile. “Willy (Nylander) slowed down the pitches a little bit here so he could make contact. No, I think everyone’s pretty athletic.
“I’m doing great out here.”
Tanev set to return Saturday, Stolarz to start
Wading through a load management schedule that has the veteran itching to get back on the ice, defender Chris Tanev will return to the lineup Saturday against Edmonton, Hiller confirmed. The 36-year-old missed two of the past three games as part of a plan to limit his workload in an effort to keep him healthy for a longer stretch of the campaign.
The club offered no other injury updates Friday, though Hiller said Kirill Marchenko — who’s been sidelined since Toronto’s Oct. 26 tilt in Calgary — is expected to resume skating soon. The winger remains out week-to-week with lower-body injury, as do defender Morgan Rielly and centreman Colton Sissons.
After going with Anthony Stolarz in the cage Thursday against Minnesota and Sergei Bobrovsky in net one game prior against Colorado, Hiller said Stolarz will get the call for Saturday’s test against McDavid's Oilers.
