Jim Hiller on returning to Matthews & Nylander on separate lines in practice: “We know what they can do together… We want to see if we can find some more chemistry with some other guys”

After Friday’s practice, Jim Hiller discussed John Tavares leaving the road trip for his son’s birth, Nick Paul stepping into his 2C spot, the line combinations and defensive pairings, and the upcoming challenge against Colorado.

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What’s going on with John Tavares?

Hiller: John is a proud father again. Great news there. Tucker Tavares, a 10-pounder. We’ve got ourselves a power forward on the way.

Did you expect it might happen on this trip?

Hiller: Yeah, we’ve been aware. It could’ve been any day, but he came out and wanted to play with his team, and then headed back.

Do you have any sense of when he’ll be rejoining you?

Hiller: I don’t know exactly. We’ll see how things go at home.

Is there a chance he could play tomorrow, or is that too soon?

Hiller: No, I wouldn’t expect him to play tomorrow.

With Nick Paul in that spot, what has stood out about his season and his ability to fill in there?

Hiller: First of all, the luxury of being able to have extra centers, or centers who can slide in. Pauly and Sis have been on the same line. We lose John, and we have him able to slide in.

One, I’m just thankful for the depth we have at the center position. Two, I think [Paul] has played really well this year. We’ve really liked him together with Sissons, whether it’s been McKenna or Cowan. They’ve been solid defensively and have been a dangerous offensive line.

Both he and Sis are solid two-way players, but there’s offense there, too. Playing with Nylander and Cowan, I think that can be a good offensive line as well.

You’ve had Nylander up with Matthews down the stretch in the last couple of games. Why do you prefer them apart to start these games?

Hiller: We’re just starting to find our way, I would say. We know what they can do together, typically. They’ve played a lot (together). When I was here, they played together all the time, so we always know that’s a go-to.

We want to try to find some more chemistry with some other guys, or see if we can find some more chemistry with some other guys. If those things don’t work, then we’ll probably lean more on that.

How do you balance all of that on the bench, when you’re looking to make a change?

Hiller: First of all, in my history, we played a lot of 11 and 7. I’ve historically been somebody who maybe changes the lines quite a bit.

Talk to the assistants, try to get a feel for the game, and who might be able to go with who to provide a spark. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes, it’s just a feel.

What are you looking to see with a different look on defense?

Hiller: Just generally, don’t give up so many chances. That’s a collective thing for us.

We talked about it: We give up the goal, which is a terrible time to give up a goal. You’re up 3-0. You’re at an offensive-zone faceoff, and then a penalty, and then penalties.

I really talked to the guys today. It just takes you out of the rhythm of your five-on-five game, and they get that momentum, even though our penalty kill held them. It just really disrupts everything. We never really recovered until we got back out in the third.

Why was now the time to try some different looks with the defense pairings?

Hiller: We’ll mix and match those, too, at different times. All those guys are veteran guys, so they’ve kind of all played with each other at one point or another. For the most part, they’re lefty-righties. We’ll keep that moving around.

You kept Bobrovsky off the ice today. He obviously saw a lot of shots last night.

Hiller: He has a bit of a routine. Typically, you’ll see him take a break. There might be a time or two that he goes on, but when he plays, we like to give him a rest. He’s worked his way through his long career to find out what works best for him, and we just support that.

Nazem Kadri had a lot of success after he left Toronto. Apart from some memorable occasions when he got into trouble, do you understand why he would’ve lost such favour with the organization?

Hiller: No, I don’t know that. At the time, they made a trade to try to make the team better in certain areas. Sometimes, you have a deficiency in one area, and you have a surplus in another. I don’t think it was ever anything against Naz. Everybody in Toronto loved Naz: players, coaches, management. I don’t think that was ever a question.

It was great to see him go on and have the [success] he’s had and win a Stanley Cup. I was really happy for him. I think probably a lot of Leafs fans were, too.

What’s the biggest thing to focus on heading into this matchup against Colorado with Nathan MacKinnon?

Hiller: They play a pretty unique style of game, I would say. They’re a really dynamic rush team. The defense probably skate as well, as six, as any other group in the league. It presents some challenges defensively, for sure.

For us, we’ve got to continue to focus on being in the offensive zone and tight support. We’ve seen some good strides that way. That’s the best defense, really, if you can just hold onto pucks, be dangerous, and tire people out, which Vegas did to us. We weren’t able to create any offense because we were too tired.

That’s kind of the game we have to play against Colorado.