The Toronto Maple Leafs have been careful to not look past the Montreal Canadiens to a potential quarterfinal meeting with the Winnipeg Jets, but there was reason for optimism prior to Game 5 of their first round series that if the Leafs are able to dispatch the Habs and win their first playoff series in 17 years, that sometime in the next round they could see the return of team captain John Tavares.
Tavares, who was knocked unconscious and stretchered off the ice one week ago in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, surprisingly took to the Scotiabank Arena ice for nearly 20 minutes on Thursday for some skating and skill drills before the club went through their morning skate.
"It's huge to have him back at the rink here today, getting a chance to talk to him and just spend time around him." Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said. "As far as his health goes, as teammates we want to support him. We don't know exactly what's going on or what his timeline is, but we're just happy to see him. Having him around the rink is a great sign. We're lucky to have him back so soon after that."
The Leafs are being cautious with their captain after suffering a concussion and a knee injury with Montreal’s Corey Perry, but his appearance on the ice give the club hope that Tavares could return at some point if they have an extended run in the postseason.
Winger Nick Foligno also skated prior to the main group, but remains day-to-day with a lower body injury. The only lineup change for the Leafs will be the return of Rasmus Sandin on the bottom pairing in place of Travis Dermott.
Montreal will make one change on defense, inserting veteran Erik Gustavsson for Brett Kulak, due mostly to the fact that the Canadiens power play is 0-for-13 in the series and the Habs have only scored four goals in four games.
Toronto has to be careful not to underestimate a Montreal club that has been challenged offensively, but has kept the score tight in two of the four games.
"The guys are very businesslike and treating it like they have other games in the series, I think that's been the kind of the messaging for our group is to not not look beyond the first shift or the first period tonight," Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "This game is the hardest one to get. We are expecting it to be our best game in the series, as we feel like that's going to be the effort that's going to be required. That's what we went through this morning, the things that have worked well for us in this series and the things that we're continuing to monitor, wanting to clean up to do better and really looking to continue to build on the things that we've been doing to to get to this point."
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