Maccelli builds chemistry with Matthews as Domi joins Leafs practice

The Maple Leafs beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in their pre-season opener on Sunday at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. The non-playing group held a practice at Ford Performance Centre in Toronto.

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Matias Maccelli seems to be building momentum in his bid to win the open top-line winger spot besideAuston Matthews.

“I mean, obviously now it’s been a few days, so it’s getting better,” Maccelli said following his fourth straight practice on a line with Matthews andMatthew Knies. “Trying to find them a little more out there, and I kind of know now where they hang out when we have the puck. So, yeah, it’s getting better.”

Leafs head coach Craig Berube gave Maccelli a positive review for his performance in Saturday’s 30-minute scrimmage.

“It’s been good.” agreed Matthews. “I think every day, you know, a little bit better, and I think that’s all you can ask for, especially early on in camp. You just want to build that chemistry and continue to take steps every single day, which I feel like we’ve been doing.”

Max Domi, who was in line to start on the top line before tweaking a lower-body injury on the eve of training camp, returned to practice on Sunday. He skated on the third line beside newcomers Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua.

Domi hit it off with Matthews late in the 2023-24 season when Mitch Marner missed time with a high-ankle sprain.

“Just the way he sees the ice, the pace that he plays with, you know, he kind of likes to play that give-and-go game, which I like,” Matthews said. “So we’ve had success in the past, and it’s really good to see him out here on the ice today and participating in a full practice.”

Not quite a full practice, though. Domi departed before the final drill, which was a small-area game. He was not available to the media.

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Maccelli is looking to build chemistry on and off the ice. He did not have any pre-existing relationships with any Leafs players before arriving in Toronto in a trade from Utah in July.

“He’s a pretty laid-back guy,” Matthews said. “Kind of quiet at the start, but once you get to know him, I really enjoy spending time with him, talking to him about hockey, about other stuff. I think he’s fit in really well.”

Another newcomer, Michael Pezzetta, said that joining the team’s fantasy football league helped him bond with his new teammates. But Maccelli, who is from Finland, isn’t a big NFL fan.

“I’m not into the football thing, don’t know anything about it, so guys will just take my money if I jump into that,” the 24-year-old said with a smile. “So just trying to hang out, be around the guys, and just joke around.”

Golf is more in Maccelli’s wheelhouse. He actually fired a hole-in-one during the summer.

“Just a good eight iron, a little uphill, and went into the hole,” he said. “We thought it might have rolled over the green, but it ended up in the hole.”

---Maccelli and Matthews stayed out late after practice to do some extra work. They took turns setting each other up for different shots.

Matthews always stayed out late with Marner at the end of pre-game warmups to do something similar. The Leafs captain was asked if he’ll be looking for someone else to fill that role this season.

“See what happens, I guess,” he said.

There’s been a lot of questions about Marner’s departure early in camp and Matthews already seems to be a bit weary of the storyline.

“You got two more weeks, and then we’re done with these questions,” he said with a small smile on Sunday.

That response came on the heels of a similar comment on Friday when Matthews was asked if there was a benefit to starting the season without the distraction of a prominent player entering a contract year.

“I don’t really think any of the outside stuff was a distraction last year,” he said. “And, you know, it’s definitely not a distraction this year. Maybe you guys will ask a couple more Mitchy questions here for the next couple of weeks (smile), but hopefully that’ll die down here shortly.”

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Questions about how the Leafs adapt without Marner will likely persist throughout the season. The 102-point winger influenced the game in so many ways, including on special teams.

On Sunday, the Leafs worked on the power play and penalty kill for the first time at training camp. Marner excelled as the quarterback of a five-forward power-play unit last season. Defenceman Morgan Rielly will be reclaiming that role to start this season.

“Mo’s been back there before,” Matthews noted. “He’s comfortable back there. I think it’s not overcomplicating things. He’s got to shoot the puck. We’ve all got to take care of the puck and shoot it when the opportunities arise.”

Rielly started last season as the quarterback on the top unit, but lost the job when the power play endured an early-season slump.

Matthews and William Nylander will remain on the flanks with John Tavares in the bumper and Knies in front of the net.

“Obviously, we’ve got Kniesy, who’s a big body at the front of the net,” Matthews noted. “JT, who’s great in the middle, and, you know, myself and Willy can shoot off the flanks and stuff. But I think early on, especially, it’s not overcomplicating things, keeping things simple and just trying to break down their structure from the inside.”

The second unit at practice featured Oliver Ekman-Larsson up top, Maccelli and Domi on the flanks, Bobby McMann in the middle and Roy in front of the net.

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With Lane Lambert moving to Seattle to take over behind the Kraken’s bench, the Leafs have a new assistant coach, Derek Lalonde, overseeing the penalty kill this season.

“We’re changing a couple little things around a little bit, little adjustments here and there,” said Matthews, who was a full-time killer for the first time last season. “But I think for the most part I feel pretty comfortable. I mean, our guys on the back end do a great job of communicating throughout the penalty kill and whatnot. I think that’s the biggest key for that is to be as detailed as possible, communicating, and just have an idea of where guys need to be.”

Matthews was often paired with Marner for penalty-kill shifts last season. He took reps beside Knies at Sunday’s practice.

With Berube in Ottawa with the game group, Lalonde and fellow assistant coach Marc Savard, who works with the power play, ran practice.

Lalonde spent the last three seasons as the Detroit Red Wings head coach.

“He’s been good,” Matthews said. “I mean, even in the summertime, I think he was chatting with quite a few guys early on, just getting a feel for stuff, getting an idea of where he wants the penalty kill to go. I think he’s done a really good job of communicating. And obviously on a day like today where Chief’s with the other group in Ottawa, having these guys out here running a good practice for us and making sure everything’s detailed is really good.”

Leafs assistant coaches are not available to the media, per a team policy.

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Marner played a big role in what music played in the Leafs dressing room, which means there’s now an opening for a new DJ.

Scott Laughton is among the aspiring candidates.

“I hope I get a chance on the aux cord,” the centre said with a grin. “We’ll see. There’s a couple guys who play the music here, but I’m going to put my bid in.”

What does Laughton bring to the table?

“A lot of house music, a lot of Tragically Hip,” he said. “I mix it up a little bit. But the summer I was more old school, a lot of lighter stuff, Van Morrison and stuff like that.”

For now, Rielly and Nylander are controlling the tunes behind the scenes.

“Willy plays a lot of music before the games,” Laughton revealed. “He’s a little bit of everything too, so it’s good. Mo’s been playing the music lately before practice.”

What’s Rielly playing?

“I won’t say what we’ve been listening to lately, but it’s a banger,” Laughton said with a smile.

Taylor Swift?

“It’s the same genre.”

Laughton struggled to find his top level after coming over in a trade from the Philadelphia Flyers at the deadline last season. He scored two goals and added two assists in 20 regular season games before posting just two assists in 13 playoff games.

“Put a lot of work in in the summer on small details on my game to try and continue to get better,” the 31-year-old said. “So, yeah, the comfortability is there. I think getting to know the guys better and the staff.”

Last season was Laughton’s first taste of playoff hockey since 2020.

“It was a tough summer, tough pill to swallow,” he said of the seven-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the second round. “I think when you get that close and when you have the year we had and to be that close, it’s tough. So I think it takes you a while to get over it. Definitely harder to watch after you’re out than in previous years. Yeah, the motivation’s high.”

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Forwards Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf and Nick Robertson all wore an ‘A’ and all hit the scoresheet as an undermanned Leafs team picked up a win in Ottawa on Sunday against a Senators squad featuring plenty of NHL regulars.

“I thought our veteran guys — Kampf and Jarnkrok — did a good job of leading the way and playing the right way,” Berube told reporters in Ottawa.

Jarnkrok scored the opening goal in the first minute of the game.

Robertson scored Toronto’s second goal. He also scored twice in Saturday’s intra-squad scrimmage.

“He is a worker,” Berube said. “And he can shoot the puck in the net. That is what he did tonight. Nick worked extremely hard. He shot pucks. That is what he does. He played his game tonight. He was highly competitive.”

Robertson led the team with three shots in Ottawa.

Berube liked the performance by top prospect Easton Cowan. The feisty winger finished plus-one in 14:19 of ice time. Cowan didn’t pick up an assist, but made a good play in the lead up to the Robertson goal.

“We know he is a skilled player on the power play and things like that,” Berube said of the team’s 2023 first-round pick. “When he gets an opportunity offensively, he is a good player, but I thought his game management was good tonight. He got pucks behind. He drove the net on the one play — a hard play to the net. That is the stuff we want to see. Overall, I was pretty happy with him.”

The coach also praised Oshawa Generals defenceman Ben Danford, who was playing his first ever NHL pre-season game after missing last year’s training camp due to injury.

“Danford played a good, solid hockey game,” Berube said of the team’s 2024 first-round pick. “It is not a flashy game by any means, but it is just about the first pass, defending well, and playing a hard game. He was pretty much mistake-free. It was impressive.”

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DefencemanSimon Benoit (upper-body) and goalie Joseph Woll (illness) missed practice for the second straight day.

Roy, who missed Saturday’s session due to a lower-body injury, left practice early with Domi.

Monday is a day off for the Leafs, who will be back on the ice on Tuesday.

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Leafs lines in Sunday’s practice:

Knies - Matthews - Maccelli

McMann - Tavares - W.Nylander

Joshua - Roy - Domi

Lorentz - Laughton - Valis

A.Nylander, Shaw

McCabe - Tanev

Rielly - Carlo

Ekman-Larsson - Benning

Smith - Webber

Stolarz

Hildeby

Leafs power play units at Sunday’s practice:

QB: Rielly

Middle: Tavares

Flanks: Matthews, Nylander

Net front: Knies

QB: Ekman-Larsson

Middle: McMann

Flanks: Maccelli, Domi

Net front: Roy

Leafs penalty kill units at Sunday’s practice:

Knies - Matthews

Joshua- Roy

Lorentz - Laughton

McMann - Nylander

McCabe - Tanev

Ekman-Larsson - Carlo

Leafs lines in Sunday’s pre-season game:

Robertson - Kampf - Cowan

Pezzetta - Groulx - Jarnkrok

Boyd - Haymes - Lettieri

Sim - Quillan - Barbolini

Thrun - Myers

Mermis - Danford

Rifai - Villeneuve

Akhtyamov

Peksa

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