Marner will be assessed further when the team returns to Toronto to determine the extent of the injury.
Marner will be assessed further when the team returns to Toronto to determine the extent of the injury.
MONTREAL — The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to wait until the club returns home before knowing the full extent of Mitch Marner's lower-body injury sustained against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Although Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe didn't offer up exactly when the injury occurred, it was clear the forward was in a lot of pain after his leg buckled during a scoring chance in the second period while the Leafs were down 2-1 in the second period.
Right now, the Leafs say Marner is day-to-day and he will not be in the lineup when they visit the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.
"We've been through this before and Mitch has missed games before," Keefe said. "We'll move some things around here today to compensate for that. Guys will step up."
Marner has 25 goals and leads the Maple Leafs with 51 assists in 62 games this season. But an extended absence has a lot of implications on the team's power play and penalty kill, which Marner plays on the top unit of both.
Regarding short-term fixes, Keefe is using it as an opportunity to put Tyler Bertuzzi back on the top line with Auston Matthews while William Nylander will skate on the right side of the trio.
"I had envisioned him getting another go-around with Auston, and I think the timing is right given he got some exposure there last game."
Bertuzzi got those reps on the top line after Matthew Knies missed most of Thursday's game after a collision with Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand.
Knies will be back in the lineup alongside David Kampf and Bobby McMann.
Max Domi will move back to the wing on the second line alongside John Tavares and William Nylander.
Connor Dewar, acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Friday, will center a line with Pontus Holmberg and Ryan Reaves.
"It impacts things greatly," Keefe said of Marner's absence. "All of a sudden it’s not as attractive to have Matthews, Domi and Tavares all down the middle just because we have less offensive depth on the wings.
"Just trying to keep those pairs together as best I could with Bertuzzi and Nylander, Tavares and Jarnkrok, Holmberg and Reaves and then kind of moving things around like that."
Joel Edmundson will make his Maple Leafs debut on Saturday. He'll be on the team's third pair of defense, bumping out Laval-native Simon Benoit.
"It kills me to sit Benoit here tonight, especially in this building," Keefe said. "It's what's necessary here tonight."
Keefe is opting to keep Timothy Liljegren in the lineup for a couple of reasons. One, they need another right shot.
"I think this is an important time in the living's development here for us to settle through," Keefe said. "We need to see how Edmundson-Liljegren does for us."
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