A Pair Of Nikitas Return To The Ice

"The Toronto Maple Leafs were back on the practice ice this morning as they prepare for Wednesday's game versus the New York Islanders and they more players than they are used to at the skate.
If you count injured defenseman Morgan Rielly, who skated on his own before practice began, everyone except Auston Matthews laced up their skates. Matthews was given the day off after playing in yesterday's NHL All-Star Game and will be back with the team tomorrow.
Both defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and forward Nikita Soshnikov were full participants as well as the recently recalled Kasperi Kapanen.

Nikita Zaitsev on the ice at Leafs practice
First time skating with teammates since sustaining injury on Dec. 15 pic.twitter.com/FmdF2EB0j3
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) January 29, 2018

With the extra players in attendance and Matthew absent, the line rushes as a strange look to them, per Kristen Shilton:
Martin-Nylander-Hyman
Marleau-Kadri-Marner
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown
Komarov/Soshnikov-Moore-Kapanen
Gardiner-Hainsey/Zaitsev
Dermott/Borgman-Carrick
Borgman/Dermott-Polak
The important thing to note is that the Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov remain on separate lines, even though Mike Babcock said they would be reunited when they return to home ice.
Getting Zaitsev back would be huge, especially with Morgan Rielly nursing an upper-body injury.
"Lots of areas. We're just not as good, we're not as deep,» Babcock replied when asked where the team has missed Zaitsev, per Lance Hornby. «The mistakes we make on defense are because we have guys in the wrong spots. Sometimes they're better in the 5-6 hole than in 3-4 hole when we got those two pairs (Gardiner - Zaitsev, Rielly Hainsey) we've got two who can play against anybody. We're not too concerned about your match-up and people are comfortable playing in their spots. I think it's really significant."
As of now, Zaitsev and Soshnikov are both still on injured reserve."

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