The first (mini)bout of adversity has arrived already this season in the form of three straight losses: A collapse ending in an OT defeat against Montreal (somewhat mitigated by it being a back-to-back for the Leafs), a hard-luck loss to St. Louis, and a stinker against a hungry Lightning team.
The Leafs will be looking for responses from the Tavares/Marner line, the Morgan Rielly-Cody Ceci pairing, and Frederik Andersen, in particular. The Rielly – Ceci pair took on a lot of minutes against the Stamkos line vs. Tampa and got filled in on Thursday; while Detroit’s firepower up front isn’t on the level of Tampa’s, the start to the year from the Bertuzzi (three goals, three assists) – Larkin (one goal, four assists)- Mantha (six goals, eight points) line deserves plenty of respect.