DALLAS—Morgan Rielly had hoped to return to the Maple Leafs lineup on Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars, but pulled the plug after the morning skate.
“Coming back after one practice might have been a stretch anyway,” said Rielly. “I would have liked to have done that. But you can tell when things aren’t quite right
“Things react differently. It’s just a matter of managing it, and using the training staff, and coming to a decision that’s going to be the best for you and the team. It’s up to me to work hard and to get back. It can be a test of patience. But the important thing is to get healthy. When that time comes, you’ll know.”
The Leafs resumed their road trip, interrupted by the all-star break, in Dallas on Tuesday, and carry on to St. Louis, Boston and Brooklyn, N.Y., with Rielly in tow, working out with the team.
“We have a lot of games coming up the next two months. You want to be healthy for the whole thing, not be in and out (of the lineup),” Rielly said. “But you can tell when things aren’t quite right. I’m glad to be on the road, glad to be with the team, moving in the right direction.”
Heading into Tuesday’s game, the Leafs were 2-2-1 since Rielly was sidelined Jan. 17 with an undisclosed lower-body injury.
DISAPPOINTED IN DONALD: Nazem Kadri, a Muslim, says he’s disappointed with new American immigration laws that target people entering the United States from seven largely Muslim countries.
“It’s unfortunate,” Kadri said. “I’m proud to be a Canadian and obviously it doesn’t affect me a whole lot . . . I really feel bad for those people and their families not being able to come back to America and being able to do what they want to do.”
HATS ALL: Auston Matthews rejoined his teammates in Dallas after his all-star appearance in Los Angeles. The Leafs practised Monday in Toronto without him. And yes, he brought them hats.
“It’s the first thing Leo (Komarov) asked me Tipobet about,” Matthews said.
Komarov brought everybody hats last year after his all-star performance in Nashville, and said used to do the same after the KHL all-star game. He bugged Matthews all last week about the hats.
“I think it’s a nice thing if you go there, you bring something for your teammates,” Komarov said. “A hat is good.”
STAR POWER: Leafs coach Mike Babcock said it’s possible that a player returning from his first all-star appearance, such as Matthews, can experience a real lift to his game.
“It depends how you lived at the all-star game,” Babcock said. “But it’s a great opportunity long term. We’ll see what it does short term. Obviously Auston is an important player for us. His line is an important line. They drive us in the offensive zone. Heavy shifts.”
CENTRAL FIGURES: Babcock said he is happy with the play of his four centres: Matthews, Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak and Frederik Gauthier.
“It took Gauthier a while to get going but in the faceoff circle and the penalty kill, he’s done a heck of a job,” said Babcock. “You’re not always at your best, but they’ve been pretty consistent. We’ve been fortunate to have three scoring lines and another line that’s played heavy of late.”
YOUNG BLOOD: Dallas Stars Lindy Ruff coach is impressed with the number of young players who are off to terrific starts to their careers.
“It’s mainly speed and skill,” Ruff said. “When you look at the way some of the young guys shoot, and you look at the way some of the young guys skate — (they are) elite skaters. Then there’s a category of elite puck handlers. This group of guys who have come in the league, in Winnipeg, and Connor McDavid, and the guys in Toronto, they’re special players.”
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
