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A shortened bench did not escape the Maple Leafs’ notice on Tuesday.
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It wasn’t because of injury, but the absence of assistant Marc Savard was a wake-up call that the hockey office would not sit back and let problems fix themselves.
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The puny power play, long a sore spot, cost Savard his job and could be the first of many changes that will include players. Firing an assistant in mid-season when it’s not part of a larger coaching staff change is highly unusual.
But not totally expected on the Leafs, who were in the Eastern Conference basement in part because of special teams before beating Pittsburgh 6-3.
‘Learning experience’
“First time I’ve had that happen in my career, a learning experience,” said winger Steven Lorentz. “It was tough, we all loved him around the room. He kept the mood light.”
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But there had to be some tension between Savard and the unproductive stars who made up the first unit as the Leafs tumbled to a league-low 13%. It dropped a couple of tenths of a percentage after getting two very abbreviated opportunities on Tuesday. Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares were still in the top group when rolled out, with Max Domi added in place of Matthew Knies.
“A great guy, sad to see (Savard) go, but we’ve been struggling,” Nylander said. “I guess that’s the first step to try and make a change.”
Ironically, Domi’s winner came during 4-on-4 play in the third period when the penalty-free game was slowed by three minors in less than a minute.
“That’s the unfortunate part of this business that when things aren’t going well, stuff like that happens,” Domi said of Savard. “Savvy’s a good guy who played in the league a long time and I learned a lot from him.”
Now it’s on the Leafs players to take a lesson from his untimely parting.
X: @sunhornby
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