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The Toronto Maple Leafs finished off a very successful five-game road trip with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday, undone in part by former Leaf Ryan O’Reilly’s two-goal performance. Toronto got goals from William Nylander and Mark Giordano and a solid performance from Ilya Samsonov in a 21-save effort.
Liljegren was talking to a trainer and now he's off to the dressing room
The good news was that the Leafs earned seven of a possible 10 points and are holding on to a one-point lead of one of the top three playoff spots in the Atlantic Division, the bad news is that the club lost another defenseman in the contest.
Timothy Liljegren left the game midway through the second period after being hit by Predators forward Yakov Trenin, forcing the Leafs to play with five defensemen for the second game in a row. Following the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe did not have an update on the injury, but on Monday the Leafs blueliner took to the ice for practice at Ford Performance Centre.
It is unknown how long defenseman Jake McCabe will be out. The Leafs blueliner left the 4-1 win over Dallas on Thursday on the first shift with a lower-body injury, but Keefe indicated on Saturday that his groin injury was not severe and that it is not expected to keep him out of the lineup for an extended period of time,
With Conor Timmins out long-term, Toronto’s Achilles heel is even more exposed. William Lagesson played just under 11 minutes in his first game for the Leafs, and after Liljegren’s injury, heavy minutes were piled on Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, John Klingberg, and Mark Giordano.
If and when the Leafs make any additions to their lineup before the trade deadline, it will be to upgrade their defense.