The Leafs left Montreal with a 4-2 loss, and Jim Hiller spent much of his postgame session sorting through the same three themes: Morgan Rielly’s injury, Gavin McKenna’s turnovers, and the spark John Tavares gave William Nylander.
Rielly’s night ended early, and Hiller didn’t have much to offer afterward. “No update.
Obviously, he didn’t finish. It’s never a good sign.
We’ll see. We’ll know a little bit more tomorrow.”
That absence could matter quickly, because Hiller said Rielly has been playing some of his best hockey in a while. “He’s played really well.
I think he’s had a really good probably three weeks - as good as I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s really been helping us, and I think his confidence is back.
This is a big blow, so hopefully it’s not too long.”
McKenna’s turnovers also drew Hiller’s attention after the loss. He kept the specifics private, but the message was clear.
“I’ll keep most of that between him and me, but he knows. He had a couple of turnovers, and you just can’t.
You can’t do it. You can’t continue to do it.
You know what I mean?”
Hiller didn’t leave it there, though. He also made a point of backing the young player.
“But he’s a great young player. Bounced back.
Good attitude. All that kind of stuff - trying, learning, come a long way.
It’s all good. It’s just tough sometimes.”
As for the game itself, Hiller said the Leafs did enough in a lot of areas, even if the mistakes proved costly. “I’ve talked about this a lot of times.
They created some pretty good chances, but I think we gave them two or three of their goals. There was a tip going wide, and it’s a great tip.
They had some nice plays.
Outside of that, I thought we limited them pretty good, we had our looks, and their goalie played well. You’ve just got to keep going.
You can create chances. Don’t give them easy ones.
It’s not a complicated formula.”
He also felt the team’s overall effort was there for the full night, aside from the puck management issues. “I thought we put a full 60 minutes together today.
Outside of moments with the turnovers, I didn’t see them grinding us in the O-zone. I didn’t see them racing up and down with their skill.
They’re a good team.
Outside of those moments, I don’t know what you want to call it - 59 [minutes]. The times that we turned the puck over are bad moments, for sure. But the energy, the compete, structure, chance creation - those were there.”
Tavares’ return gave Hiller another positive to point to, especially in the way it seemed to lift Nylander. “First of all, I thought Willy had his best game in a long, long time, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that John was out there with him.
They have a lot of chemistry together. John wins pucks.
I think maybe John’s biggest contribution was getting Willy going as well as he did. And then John’s game was good.
He was fine. He started a little slow in the faceoff circle, got better, and was around the net.
The puck just jumped on him a couple of times, but he was around the net.”
With the standings and a homestand in view, Hiller said the pressure never really changes. “I would echo what they say.
There’s always a sense of it. Never changes.
I know some games feel like they’re bigger, and, “Hey, we’ve got to win.” But if you win the next one, you’ve got to win the one after that.
It just never changes. We always play to win, and you always have that pressure to win.”
And with another home game coming the next night, he said the workload was mostly handled well until the late scramble. “I think the minutes were managed pretty well until that end, and we had some guys overextend at the end with the 6-on-4. Otherwise, I think we were in pretty good shape, but there were some guys that played quite a bit just because of that stretch.”
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Loss To Montreal Came With An Even Bigger Concern
The Maple Leafs left Montreal with more than a loss to sort through after a 4-2 defeat that featured a strong night from the Canadiens and an unwelcome injury scare for Toronto. Alex Newhook drove the offense for Montreal, Zachary Bolduc added a power-play goal and Jacob Fowler turned aside 26 shots as the Canadiens controlled enough of the game to hand Toronto another frustrating result.
Morgan Riellys exit in the second period with a lower-body injury quickly became the bigger concern for the Leafs, especially with the team already trying to steady itself after the loss. Toronto will want clarity on Riellys status soon, because the blue line takes on a different look when one of its most important defensemen is forced out early. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Face One Huge Question As Superstar Fit Emerges
A fan-driven trade idea making the rounds this week put Toronto in the middle of another big-name defense discussion, and the reaction was about as lopsided as it gets. The proposed deal would have brought Detroits Simon Edvinsson into the Maple Leafs orbit, but voters overwhelmingly shot it down, with 92% disapproving the concept.
The interest in Edvinsson still says something about where Torontos attention is right now, especially with the market for impact players never far from the conversation. Even as other teams sort out their own lineup situations, the Leafs are left weighing whether a move like that ever makes sense for their roster, cap picture and long-term blue-line plans, which is exactly why this kind of chatter keeps hanging around. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Suddenly Have A Morgan Rielly Problem They Can't Ignore
Morgan Riellys night against the Canadiens ended far earlier than the Maple Leafs would have wanted, and it came at a moment when Toronto was still trying to settle into the game. The veteran defenseman was hurt on a 3-on-1 chance early in the second period, then was limited to just 5:45 of ice time before leaving with a lower-body injury.
For a Leafs team that leans heavily on Rielly in all situations, the concern is less about one missed shift than what comes next if he needs time. No additional details have been offered yet, which leaves Toronto waiting on the kind of update it would much rather not need, especially with the workload on its blue line already carrying plenty of importance. [Read more 🡒]