Toronto's rookies – 20-year-old Matthew Knies and 19-year-old Fraser Minten – struggled to find their footing in Wednesday's opener. Both Knies and Minten had one shot on net and one giveaway during the wild 6-5 shootout win.
"It was a rough start for us in the beginning," Knies acknowledged."We were a little bit nervous and didn't have too much poise with the puck. As the game went on we did much better and started skating a lot harder and got to play with the puck a lot more. It's just building."
"I think they're just going to keep getting better and better every game," said Jarnkrok, 32, who is the elder statesman on the line."They got pretty much everything figured out. They don't need me to teach that many things out there. They got it all by themselves.". Sheldon Keefe is preaching patience when it comes to Minten, who played 11 minutes and 32 seconds on Wednesday, and Knies, who logged 12 minutes and 57 seconds.
Blazers coach and general manager Shaun Clouston recalls how Minten, during his 16-year-old season in the Western Hockey League hub, embraced being a penalty killer during practice. He did every rep until the coaches told him to let another player have a turn. "The thing that stands out with Fraser is that he's always focused," Clouston observed."Some guys show up at that time and kind of use camp just to get loosened up and they kind of go through the motions a little bit and Fraser, he was not like that at all. His mindset was, 'I'm going to go hard here for the first few days of camp and use it to really push myself and try to pick up my pace.' He knew it would be a different pace so he really tried to push himself.
Reaves is quickly making his presence felt around the Leafs and Saturday could be another big night for the big winger as he faces his old team. Brock Faber "I'm going to say myself, confidently, but he's a tremendous hockey player," said Faber, who scored his first NHL goal in Minnesota's win on Thursday."He's big. He's strong. He can move. His hands are so good." "We're both giving each other a little bit of space because it's going to be toe to toe out there tonight," Knies said."Don't read too much into that stuff," Domi said.
"It is just learning more about them," Keefe said."I have talked to Max a little bit about that. Max, a lot of times, can be a puck-dominant guy. He has the puck, he is a playmaking guy. When you play with Willy, in particular, he is a puck-dominant guy. He is going to have it a lot. Now, you have to find your space on the ice and find your role on the ice off the puck in the offensive zone.
"I don't really know too much about him," Nylander said on Saturday."Did he have a shutout in first game? So, probably a pretty good Swedish goalie."
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