? This is now the second time Nick Robertson has been inserted into the lineup and provided a real spark. The key for him now is sustaining this level of play. Robertson did play a stretch of nearly 25 consecutive games and his performance really trailed off as those games wore on.
Two noticeable aspects of Robertson?s play since he has returned to the lineup: he?s not struggling to break out as much, and his overall puck management. Defensemen were pinching down on Robertson and keeping the puck in with some level of regularity earlier in the season, but he has been really heavy on his stick since returning and is coming out with more pucks/getting pucks out. His decisions with the puck have also been better.
Against the Jets in the third period, he possessed the puck on the half-wall in the Jets? zone with the Leafs up 2-1. Max Domi cut into through the middle of the zone, and you could see Robertson think about it for a second, hold on, and decide to make an easy tape-to-tape pass to the corner afterward. It?s a small thing ? and nothing resulted from it ? but it?s the kind of play where, if he forces it and it?s picked off, the Jets are going to counterattack (which is the type of play that drives a coach nuts, especially knowing Domi wasn?t on his one-timer side or looking at any sort of high-percentage scoring chance).
Sheldon Keefe talks a lot about managing the game and managing the puck. Those are the small details we?re starting to see Robertson mature into grasping.
