By Canadian Press

Maple Leafs set to begin life without John Tavares against Bruins

Oct 18, 2019 | 9:38 AM

TORONTO — Alexander Kerfoot was the man in the middle at Maple Leafs’ practice on Friday.

The centre took up the spot normally occupied by Toronto captain John Tavares, who is out at least two weeks with a broken finger, on a line with Mitch Marner and Ilya Mikheyev.

Kerfoot had a brief chat with head coach Mike Babcock before the on-ice session began at the team’s practice facility.

Toronto’s top line of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Andreas Johnsson remained the same, while veteran centre Jason Spezza — a healthy scratch for three of the team’s eight games — was between Kasperi Kapanen and Trevor Moore.

The fourth line of Nick Shore, Frederik Gauthier and Dmytro Timashov was unchanged.

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Tavares suffered the injury late in Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to the Capitals in Washington after getting struck in the right hand by a shot off the stick of Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly.

Toronto hosts the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2019.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press