The Toronto Maple Leafs took to the ice for practice on a rare off day on Saturday in Pittsburgh ahead of their Sunday matchup with the Penguins.
Notable absences from practice included Chris Tanev, who remains ‘day-to-day’ with an upper-body injury, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz, and Max Domi – all of whom played on Friday in New York.
Head coach Craig Berube was asked about the status of the four players after practice, providing updates ahead of their four-game road trip finale.
When discussing the progress of Tanev, Berube offered somewhat of an optimistic update.
“Better today. That’s good news. I heard he’s better today, and that’s great news,” said Berube after practice. “He’s feeling better, so we got to see how he heals up here in the next couple of days.”
However, Berube did not expect the 35-year-old to be ready for the upcoming games against Pittsburgh on Sunday and San Jose on Monday.
“Yeah, I would say he’s probably out the next two games,” he added.
Tanev was injured in Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins and has been sidelined since then. The veteran defenseman exited the game after a hit along the boards from Bruins forward John Beecher and was later seen leaving the arena post-game with his right arm in a sling.
It seems likely that the Leafs will be without one of their top shutdown defensive defensemen again for the next two games.
More Injury Updates
As mentioned, in addition to Tanev, three other players were absent from practice due to maintenance reasons.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who scored on the Leafs’ first shot against the New York Rangers on Friday night, left the game midway through the third period with 14:41 remaining. Berube confirmed that Ekman-Larsson did not re-aggravate a previous injury from February but instead suffered something “new,” as he noted after the on-ice session.
As a non-skater at Saturday’s practice, the Swede joined other non-participant Steven Lorentz on exercise bikes off the ice, watching the session unfold.
Lorentz briefly left Friday’s game early in the contest but returned later in the first period and logged 8:16 of ice time. Max Domi, also absent from the session, logged 12:02 ice time in Friday’s 3-2 win over New York and is “banged up,” according to bench boss Berube.
“More of a maintenance day for him (Ekman-Larsson), Domi, and Lorentz today,” Berube explained. “A little banged up. So I gave them off today.”
The status of all three players for Sunday’s game remains uncertain and they are seen as game-time decisions.
“Well, I don’t know yet. That’ll be a decision that’s going to be made probably tomorrow,” he added.
If this is any indication of what's to come on Sunday, the Leafs will likely need to shuffle their lineup as they brace for another back-to-back – while hoping that these injuries do not linger longer than necessary.
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