After a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Randy Carlyle provided an update on injured centre Tyler Bozak’s status, who left the game vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night with a lower body injury. Carlyle described a 7-10 day timeline as a hopeful one as far as Bozak’s return date is concerned.
Nazem Kadri played the full game next to Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk and the line combined beautifully for the team’s game winning goal in a Saturday night win over the Penguins. With his line out often times against Malkin and his line (while Bolland’s unit took on the Crosby matchup), Kadri put in a concerted effort defensively, took a few runs at Malkin, and danced around Marc Andre Fleury for the game winning 2-1 goal.
The weak spot in Kadri’s game continues to be faceoffs, where he was 36% on the night. The Leafs on the whole did a better job on the dot Saturday night, despite entering the night ranked 29th in the category with a 43.7% success rate and going up against the 2nd best faceoff team in the NHL; McClement was 63% on the dot while Bolland went 17 for 31 (55%). Kadri and Bozak are both averaging 46% in the faceoff circle this season.
In other injury news, Joffrey Lupul’s CT scan on his foot was clear and he could be available as early as Tuesday in Edmonton.
