All season, the Maple Leafs have managed to keep the plane in the air minus a couple of main engines and iced-up wings.
Half the season and the majority of their back-to-back games are now behind them, making it through without goalies Joseph Woll at the start, Anthony Stolarz at present and in between losing Auston Matthews (twice), Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty (twice), Jake McCabe, Connor Dewar (twice), Calle Jarnkrok (all year), Jani Hakanpaa (all but two games) and John Tavares.
Which made Tuesday’s final full home practice until after the 4 Nations Face-off notable for who wasn’t there. Tavares and Knies skated earlier in scratch greys, head coach Craig Berube saying it was was unlikely either would heal dramatically overnight to play Minnesota on Wednesday.
The Wild is the remaining Scotiabank Arena date before a four-game Western Canada road trip that will test the roster’s mettle again, spread over eight days of travel.
“I’ve been around, it’s been like this before in my career,” said the keep-calm-and-carry-on Berube. “It’s one of those things; you have to deal with, have other people step up and step in.
“It could be young guys from the Marlies, it could be veterans and our players (already here) have done a good job. We have to continue to do it, but it has been a lot of injuries for sure.”
Centre Fraser Minten is already up from the farm, the recently recalled Nikita Grebenkin was the 13th forward Tuesday, while winger Jacob Quillan is still sore from a collision in Saturday’s NHL debut.
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Stolarz was a full participant Tuesday after minor knee surgery, but Joseph Woll likely starts Wednesday. Pacioretty was the third line winger with Minten and Nick Robertson. He had five shots on goal through his last two games, before Matthews’s shot struck him in the head and sidelined him. The Leafs have lost two of the past three.
The 36-year-old Pacioretty was in a comfort zone on the second line with fellow warhorse Tavares as his centre, now he and the other returnees must adapt to new surroundings.
“Whether they’re severe injuries or guys a little dinged up and trying to come back feeling 100 per cent, you have to have the big picture in mind.,” Pacioretty said. “We’re in a good spot (first place in the division as of Tuesday), we have a lot of rest coming up (during the 4 Nations break), but we have to be smart about it and make sure we peak at the right time (playoffs). It’s the ultimate test.”
Pacioretty is a believer that a spate of injuries is bound to sting every team, especially when the schedule backs up during the January blahs.
“Get them out of the way now,” he said. “Everyone plays injured in the playoffs. The further you go, every player on the team is injured at some point.
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“That’s what I love most about playoffs, to see what guys are able to overcome and how strong some of them are. I think back to the Cup runs I was on and the great teams … it was unbelievable what some of them played through.
“You want to feel as good as you can going into it because you’re going to feel terrible when you’re in it.”
Defenceman Chris Tanev hasn’t missed a game, despite the rigours of his physical, stay-at-home style, a conference-best 132 shot blocks.
“Eighty-two games is a long season and you’ll have your ups and downs (with injuries),” Tanav said. “But guys have done a good job filling roles they’re maybe not accustomed to.”
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