LAS VEGAS — Tyson Barrie will be happy to get to know Travis Dermott a little better.
The Maple Leafs, struggling during a five-game losing streak, will go with a couple of new defence pairs against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, using Barrie with Dermott, and Justin Holl with Jake Muzzin.
While the Leafs’ bigger goal is to improve in transition, Barrie, on an individual basis, is ready to try anything different.
“It’s fresh and exciting,” Barrie said on Monday. “You get to try to do something new and I think it can invigorate you a bit.”
Barrie, whose name has come up in trade speculation as he has been trying to find his proper place on the Leafs blue line, acknowledged he is puzzled by his own play. He has just six assists in 22 games.
“A little bit,” Barrie said. “It’s tough. I’ve played some decent hockey games where nothing has happened. It’s frustrating. I know I’m a good player and I have been a good player in this league a long time. I just have to get back to that.
“There’s no secrets (from a team perspective): It’s time to get going. It’s not time to panic, but we have a good chunk of the season out of the way and we’re not where we want to be. It’s time to bear down and man up here.”
With that in mind, coach Mike Babcock is hitting the reset button with his defence corps. The forward lines at practice on Monday did not change from the loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“They’re all going to play a little bit more with everyone on O-zone faceoffs,” Babcock said of his D-men. “We’re just going to find a way to maximize the group. We have to do a better job in that area.
“As a group of forwards we have to get to work and look after our D better. We have to clean that area of our game up. We’re not getting the transition we’re used to getting over the last few years, so we have to do a better job in the offensive zone, being organized coming out, so we can get some transition going the other way like we used to. That is a priority. It will allow our skill to come out.”
Failing to win on the three-game trip to the Western U.S., which was preceded by the loss in Pittsburgh, could end Babcock’s tenure as Leafs coach.
“The standings are what the standings are,” Babcock said. “We have to get going in the right direction as fast as we possibly can. We have talked about the commitment we need to make to one another and to our sweater.”
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November 19, 2019 at 08:59AM
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