TORONTO — His head coach and captain took turns singing his praises, telling anyone who would listen that Morgan Rielly had been one of the best players in the game. But a day after he scored a goal and was on the ice for two others, the Team North America defenceman was focusing on the negatives.
The team still lost, right?
Sure, it was Rielly’s goal late in the second period that kick-started a comeback against Russia that fell just short. On the other hand, the only reason he felt compelled to do something offensively was because Evgeny Kuznetsov had burned him on a one-on-one moments earlier.
In other words, Rielly was not accepting compliments as easily as he should have.
“People told me that (I played well), but I take responsibility on that third goal,” said Rielly. “So I think I kind of had to (step up and score).”
With Aaron Ekblad missing Monday’s game with an upper-body injury — he has reportedly been ruled out of the rest of the tournament — North America needed someone to step up on defence. And Rielly, who is entering his fourth season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, filled in as well as you could expect. He logged a game-high 23 minutes and change, killed penalties and quarterbacked the power play.
In a way, he did it all — including blaming himself for the 4-3 loss.
“He’s arguably been one of our best,” said McLellan. “I think he has the ability to play both sides of the puck. Offensively, he’s been tremendous. He’s defended well and been able to take huge minutes on. I had a high appreciation personally for how he played the game, but it’s gone way up now that you’re around him consistently day in and day out.”
When told that Rielly personally took responsibility for the Kuznetsov goal, McLellan didn’t seem surprised. That’s leadership, he said. But he disagreed with where Rielly was pointing the finger.
“That’s a one-versus-three and you’d like to kill that play early. In my opinion, that’s a team goal,” said McLellan. “But that’s a sign of leadership where if Morgan’s announcing that he’s taking responsibility for it that’s maturity.
“That’s just him being mature and leading.”
Heading into the tournament, many wondered where — or if — that maturity was going to come from. None of these players, who are aged 23 and under, are captains on their NHL teams. Few are even alternate captain. As one Team North America executive wondered aloud, “who’s going to calm everyone down when things start to go south?”
We saw elements of North America coming undone on Monday night, with Russia scoring four goals on four shots in a span of about six-and-a-half minutes during a manic second period. It wasn’t until Rielly took charge and created a scoring chance out of thin air by sneaking a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky, cutting Russia’s lead in half, that the team finally settled down.
North America will need more of that in Wednesday’s round-robin finale against Sweden, especially if defenceman Ryan Murray, like Ekblad, is also not 100 per cent healthy. Murray left practice early on Tuesday in what some described as considerable pain, but McLellan called it a “maintenance day” and said he expected the defenceman to be in the line-up on Wednesday.
This increased role is nothing new for Rielly. When Dion Phaneuf was traded from the Leafs in February, it was Rielly who took on added ice time (he went from 22 minutes per game to more than 25) and who led the team’s defence in scoring with 36 points. More and more, he is proving that he can become a legitimate No. 1 defenceman, having done so at the world hockey championship and now here.
“I think when you play in tournaments like the world championship and like this one, you’re playing against players that you’ve played against before, but it’s different,” said Rielly. “You’ve played against (Alex) Ovechkin, but now he’s on a line with (Evgeni) Malkin, which is unusual. And on the third line is (Vladimir) Tarasenko.
“You get used to playing against the best players in the world, and when you’re in that position, it makes you a better player.”
Playing against the best, of course, comes with the obvious challenges and scrutiny.
When asked what he would have done differently on the Kuznetsov goal, in which the Russian winger drove hard towards Rielly before executing an outside-inside deke and then beating goalie Matt Murray with a shot that he maybe should have stopped, Rielly wasn’t exactly sure.
“I was happy with the gap and I was happy with the way I played it,” said Rielly. “But he’s a very good player. He just made a really good move. I think for me, I have to play it just a little harder. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
It was an honest answer. No excuses. No blaming his goalie or teammates.
Just an acceptance that he needs to be better the next time around.