The Toronto Maple Leafs were defeated 3-2 in a shootout by the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at TD Garden. The club will get a day off on Friday before facing the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
According to coach Sheldon Keefe, right-shot defenseman Timothy Liljegren will miss “significant time” with a lower-body injury.
“We are not going to know for sure until we get him home and get a picture,” Keefe told reporters, “but it is not short-term at this point with the way it looks.”
Before the second period, Keefe met with referee Wes McCauley about the play that resulted in the injury.
“They didn’t see the stick [of Bruins winger Brad Marchand] go in between his legs and can opener him to make him go feet first into the boards in the most dangerous area of the ice,” he said. “He didn’t see it.”
On the play, there was no call.
“I didn’t have a good angle of it,” Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly admitted. “I assume it’s just one of those things that happens sometimes going back for pucks.”
Liljegren had been a member of the Leafs’ second pair and power play unit. He also helps with the penalty kill.
“It’s definitely a big loss,” winger Mitch Marner said. “But now it’s about next guy up, being ready to play and making sure [the] forward group is helping out whatever’s going on back there.”
The Leafs are already without Jake McCabe, who has been out with a groin ailment for the last three games.The left-handed defenseman is doubtful to play against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, but he shouldn’t be out for long.
Following McCabe’s injury, William Lagesson was called up and has been playing on the third pair with John Klingberg.Mark Giordano, 40, was promoted to the second pair with Liljegren.
Simon Benoit had a brief stint on the NHL roster earlier this season and is now with the Toronto Marlies.Max Lajoie, who is currently in the American Hockey League, is another veteran who could be called up. Mikko Kokkonen, 22, performed admirably in training camp, according to Keefe.
The Leafs will practice again on Saturday morning.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner both scored to help the Leafs come back from a 2-0 deficit and grab a point on the road. Prior to Thursday night, the two had combined for only three goals in 5-on-5 action this season.
“Obviously scoring and a little bit more offensive zone time and just creating more chances, more looks, more possession, so it’s always a positive,” said Matthews, who hadn’t scored in 5-on-5 action since the season’s second game.
Marner pledged to shoot more before the game and put three pucks in the net against the Bruins. It was his first game with multiple shots since Oct. 21 in Tampa.
“The good thing about our line is we always got trust in each other that we will get out of the little kind of hiccup that we’re in,” Marner went on to say.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Leafs outshot the Bruins 7-5 when Matthews, Marner, and left winger Calle Jarnkrok were on the ice. The majority of the changes came against Marchand and Hampus Lindholm.
“They had their best game tonight against a real tough opponent,” Keefe remarked. “I know [Boston] is missing players and all that, but they still have a lot of tough matchups ahead of them.” I’m not sure if Lindholm was on the ice tonight. He certainly played a lot of games against those guys.They did an excellent job. It was a really positive indicator. Two massive goals at a critical juncture. They resurrect us. That’s fantastic. I wouldn’t expect them to look back from here.”
Lindholm had a game-high 30 minutes and 16 seconds of playing time.
Tyler Bertuzzi opened the game with John Tavares and William Nylander on the second line, but was demoted to the fourth line in the second period.
“He just needs to simplify his game,” stated Keefe. “We had a very simple plan today.” He didn’t follow through, therefore other guys had to step in.”
Noah Gregor moved up to the third line with David Kampf and Max Domi, while Matthew Knies joined Tavares and Nylander.
Bertuzzi had a season-low 11 minutes and 32 seconds of playing time and finished minus-1. This season, he has only one even-strength point.
Ilya Samsonov stopped 38 of 40 shots in his finest game of the season.
“He was great,” Keefe remarked. “It is a shame he has to face a shootout there to end it, but I thought he was real strong tonight and should feel real good about his game.”
After a rough start to the year, Samsonov appears to be back on track.
“Game was good,” he commented. “I feel my game better and better.”
When the Leafs trailed 2-0 in the second period, Samsonov made a tremendous save on Pavel Zacha.
“I want to try to game change,” he explained. “[It’s] 2-0 and a really tough game for us.” Sometimes goalkeepers need to make an exceptionally good save for a team that is pushing harder.”
