Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe spread out his defensive minutes evenly in Morgan Rielly's return to action on Thursday. That will continue unless the defense continues a downward trend.
DENVER — Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly led his defense with 18:33 of even-strength ice time in his return from a knee injury on Thursday. The least amount of even-strength time logged by another defenseman during the team's 6-3 loss to the Arizona Coyotes was Conor Timmins at 16:00.
The minuscule 2:33 difference in ice time among the six defensemen has been a product of head coach Sheldon Keefe's established trust in his group in the wake of absences of key minutes eaters like, Rielly, TJ Brodie and Jake Muzzin and others who have either spent a large chunk of time injured, or are still on the injured list.
And that's expected to continue when the Maple Leafs visit the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.
"I think that's the one thing you learn as you go through injuries and such that you rely on others and they show that they're capable," Keefe said following the team's practice at Denver University on Sunday. "As long as that continues to be the case, then we can share the minutes and not have to tax anyone too much."
The Maple Leafs dropped their first game in regulation this season when holding a lead after two periods on Thursday. But before that game, there had been some cracks starting to appear in Toronto's defence.
In their first game following the holiday break, the Leafs lost control of their 4-3 lead in the third period against the St. Louis Blues (They went on to defeat the Blues 5-4 in overtime).
"It started a bit before the break," added Timothy Liljegren. "We just need to dial it in, be structured and have more patience and that's how we managed to win so many games."
In their final two games before the break, the Maple Leafs allowed the opposition to cut into their lead during the third period. On Dec. 20, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov scored early in the third before the Leafs held off their opponents with a pair of empty-net goals. On Dec. 22, the Leafs allowed a 4-1 lead to turn into a 4-3 lead against the lowly Philidelphia Flyers with a pair of goals surrendered just 1:23 apart.
But despite some of the patterns, fatigue from the current three-game road trip could explain some of the recent play.
Keefe spent Sunday's practice just working on light drills instead on some detailed issues from the last few games, later admitting that had Saturday's game been a traditional nighttime start instead of a 5 p.m. local start with no morning skate, he would have given his team the day off after some exhaustive travel across the Midwest and Southwestern United States.
So he'll continue to go with the same group of players and that means Rasmus Sandin will take more time to heal and practice coming off a neck injury. And it also means that the minutes will continue to be spread out.
At least for now.
"If we're going to slip and things are going to not be at the standard that they were, then we're going to have to continue to look at the minutes and make some adjustments and maybe the opportunity won't be as great," Keefe said.
And some of that will depend on how Rielly progresses.
"He's an elite defenseman with and without the puck," Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said of Rielly. "Anytime you add him back in it's huge for the group and no doubt he'll probably only feel better and better as the next few games go by.