Brendan Leipsic and Jeremy Morin, last minute call-ups to the Leafs, joined Mark Arcobello among the notable absentees.
There also were two debut appearances from Tobias Lindberg and T.J Foster, with Casey Bailey and Ryan Rupert traded away to Binghamton.
Foster was joined on a makeshift fourth line by Rylan Schwartz, signed on his second PTO of the season, and defenseman David Kolomatis, as Toronto were down to the bare bones in manpower.
It was encouraging, then, that it was Toronto who were on top in the early going despite recent poor performances and slow beginnings to games.