News

The Toronto Maple Leafs have not been able to avoid rough patches early in their games recently, but forwards Nik Antropov and John Mitchell did escape serious injuries.

Both made hasty exits in the Leafs' 5-2 road loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday, but there is a good chance that Antropov will return to the lineup against the visiting Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada Centre tonight. Mitchell will miss 10 to 14 days.

Mitchell suffered a shoulder ailment midway through the second period when he was checked into the boards by Bruins veteran defenceman Aaron Ward and left the game.

His tender shoulder was examined and he will likely be off skates until the middle of next week to avoid contact. A good sign, however, was Mitchell engaged in some strength training and felt fine yesterday.

"I did some strength training and it felt relatively strong," Mitchell said.

Jiri Tlusty was recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL to replace Mitchell. Although Mitchell will be out of action for at least 10 days, Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher said Mitchell will travel with the team on its swing through Western Canada next week so that when he's ready to resume skating, he can practise with the team.

Antropov practised yesterday and proclaimed himself "ready to go" against the Canadiens. He suffered a bruised left foot early in the Bruins game when he blocked a shot, but finished the first period. His problem came when he doffed his skate in the intermission and the foot swelled enough that he couldn't slip it back inside his boot.

With the injury news better than expected, the Leafs went back to work to remedy their on-ice ills. The Leafs, 5-4-4, have three consecutive losses and need to improve their play early in games, their work in the defensive zone and man-short situations, and goaltender Vesa Toskala has to be better.

Much has been made about the Leafs' shot blocking this season. They lead the NHL in that department, but that hasn't prevented goals. Toronto has given up a league-high 51 goals in 14 games and Toskala's save percentage has dipped to .886.

The Leafs' penalty-killing unit has slipped to last place in the 30-team league and has given up 15 goals in 14 games.

In seven of the past nine games, the Leafs have found themselves trailing after the first period. Before the Bruins game, Leafs head coach Ron Wilson joked about going to a nearby Dunkin' Donuts to buy some high-test coffee for his players in the hopes they would be alert enough by game time.

"Apparently, it was decaf," he said in jest yesterday.

NOTES

The only line that remained intact at the Toronto Maple Leafs' practice yesterday was centre Mikhail Grabovski between left winger Niklas Hagman and right winger Nikolai Kulemin. Nik Antropov was alongside centre Dominic Moore and right winger Jamal Mayers and left winger Ryan Hollweg. Centre Matt Stajan was between left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky and right winger Jason Blake. Call-up Jiri Tlusty was on the left side of Alex Steen and Ian White. ¡K Grabovski, 24, has five goals in three games and is tied for the rookie goal-scoring lead at six with Blake Wheeler of the Boston Bruins. Of course, Grabovski will line up tonight against his old club, the Montreal Canadiens. ¡K Montreal backup Jaroslav Halak was in goal last night, meaning sophomore Carey Price will meet the host Leafs at the Air Canada Centre tonight. He is sixth in save percentage at .928, eighth in wins with six and sixth in goals-against average at 2.17.

UP NEXT

Tonight v. Montreal.

Game time 7 p.m. EST

TV CBC.