Wings hope to play spoiler vs. Leafs (Mar 23, 2018)
TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs have star center Auston Matthews back from a shoulder injury as they gear up for a playoff run.
Meanwhile, their opponent Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre will have to wait until next year for a possible taste of postseason action.
The Detroit Red Wings lost 1-0 to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night and were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Meanwhile, Matthews scored a spectacular goal in a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night in his first game since Feb. 22 when he was injured.
"He's obviously got a good skill level and good compete and I thought he was real good defensively," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "In the end, he's got to be feeling good."
Matthews' return provided a boost for the Maple Leafs after they blew a three-goal lead in a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
"We played five of six really good periods on this road trip and we dropped the ball the other night in Tampa," Babcock said. "A good response."
Toronto defenseman Nikita Zaitsev returned from illness Thursday and played 19 minutes in his first game since March 5.
"I thought rusty a little bit early, but he settled right in," Babcock said. "He's a competitive guy, knows how to play and is important for us on the penalty kill."
The Red Wings, meanwhile, were talking about how the loss to the Capitals was an example of how their season has gone.
"The story of the season, isn't it?" goaltender Jimmy Howard said. "Played a solid 60-minute game, just didn't get results."
The Red Wings have missed the playoffs two seasons in a row.
"It's been a struggle," Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg said after the game Thursday. "We were in it, but we came up short."
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said, "It's been like this too many times where we haven't been able to score when we've had pretty good efforts."
The Maple Leafs (44-23-7) are third in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto has six of its final eight games in the regular season at home.
"That's important travel-wise and rest-wise and we'll do a good job with that," Babcock said. "We have to get better, we understand that. We'll have a day off (Friday) and get ready for the Red Wings."
The Maple Leafs are 2-1-0 against the Red Wings this season. They beat the Red Wings 3-2 on Feb. 18 in Detroit in their most recent meeting.
Toronto is 25-8-2 at home this season and has won 12 straight at the ACC. The Maple Leafs, however, are pursuing loftier goals and hope their past two games against two of the top teams in the NHL provided some valuable experience for the playoffs.
"Obviously, that game in Tampa wasn't how we wanted to finish it," said Toronto center Mitch Marner, who had a goal and assist in Nashville. "But that's a learning lesson for us and important to have, especially now into the playoffs.
"Like I said, we want to start the third period with a pushback and I think we started how we wanted to. Going forward, we've got to make sure we just keep the pedal down all three periods no matter what happens."
The Red Wings will be without defenseman Mike Green for the rest of the season. He is scheduled to have surgery on his cervical spine on April 5.
He missed seven games from Feb. 17 to Feb. 28, returned to the lineup March 2 at Winnipeg and aggravated the injury during practice on Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena. He had eight goals and 25 assists in 65 games this season.
Now that the Red Wings are eliminated, they might be expected to give more ice time to younger players, but Blashill offered a caution.
"There's a fine line there," Blashill said. "You have to make sure that you compete and work. If you don't compete and work, you're not getting ice time. That's one.
"Two, I'm asking our guys to go out and work as hard and compete as hard as incredibly possible. If you want to take one of those guys' jobs, then you have to play better than them. If I start playing guys because of their age, you lose 100 percent credibility and you don't teach lessons of earned ice."
