Rielly and McCabe skated alongside one another again at Tuesday’s practice.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ new defensive structure worked well in the club’s 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Specifically, Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe formed a new pairing on the blueline that left all parties leaving Scotiabank Arena feeling promising.
With Rielly’s offensive upside and McCabe’s defensive reliability, the duo delivered a solid performance for their first outing together, with both the coaching staff and the players optimistic about what’s to come with a little more work together.
Head coach Craig Berube expressed satisfaction with their performance, highlighting how McCabe's approach enabled Rielly to join the rush more effectively.
“I thought they were solid. I thought they had a good game and I thought it allowed Morgan to do his thing a little bit more,” explained Berube on Tuesday. “Like I said, jumping up on the play, Caber will sit back and let him do his thing. And he was up in the rush on a few plays and had some opportunities. So they just have to keep building their relationship as a pair.”
The club returned to practice on Tuesday afternoon ahead of their Wednesday hosting against the Columbus Blue Jackets with the same pairings on the blueline remaining intact. Against the Lightning, Rielly registered an assist and returned to more typical ice time – 20:45, up significantly from his season-low 16:27 in Saturday’s game against Montreal. McCabe played 22:45 and posted a plus-one rating, complementing Rielly’s offensive-defensive playstyle.
Rielly noted how their communication was strong and their styles meshed well on the ice.
“(It was) great. He's obviously a great player,” Rielly said after Tuesday’s practice. “I thought we had good communication. I thought we played well. So, we're going to look to build on it. And as a group, our D-Core wants to always be getting better and always be a big part of our team. And that's going to be important moving forward.”
It’s been a season marked by lower offensive production – just five goals and 17 assists in 48 games played – for the Vancouver, B.C., native. The 30-year-old has been on a bit of a rotation at defense this season due to a combination of injuries and the team’s ongoing search for the right chemistry on the back end.
Regardless of the numbers, Rielly denied that his struggles to find consistent offensive flow as a more offensive-minded defenseman have been bothering him.
“No, I mean, just try to play within structure. There's more important things,” said Rielly. “I think as a team, we're in a good place. And as a team, I think we're growing and we're learning and we're improving. That's always going to be the most important thing.”
“As long as that's happening, I think our group is going to be happy. We're always going to be pushing for more and pushing to improve. And I'm no different. So whatever it is that's going to help the team, we're all going to be willing to do that,” he added.
The Maple Leafs are hopeful that McCabe’s presence on Rielly’s right side can help reignite the 12-year defenseman’s offensive success from previous seasons. As mentioned, the duo skated together again during Tuesday’s practice, and based on the comments from the locker room, it signals the intent to give them more opportunities to build on their play.
