Travis Dermott walked off the ice at Ricoh Coliseum after practice on Tuesday, helping the equipment manager by carrying about a dozen of his teammates’ sticks back to the Marlies dressing room.

He might be an everyday NHL player now, but Dermott has not lost his enthusiasm or anything-for-the-team mentality, even at the AHL level.

“It’s great to get back with the guys, spend some time with them and get back to playing hockey,” said Dermott. “The coaches talked to me to make sure I’m not doing too much out there, just do what I was doing before, and be a confident guy moving the puck out of the zone and taking care of my defensive duties.”

Dermott and fellow Andreas Johnsson returned to the Marlies after the Maple Leafs’ too-early exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’re with the Marlies to bolster the hopes of the AHL team in the Calder Cup playoffs, and have fit right back in from whence they came.

“It speaks to their personality and their character, that they’ve come down and been excited to play with the group,” said Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe. “They haven’t missed beat. It’s also an opportunity for them to continue to play long into the spring. Both guys mean a lot to us and they’re playing a lot.”

Johnsson has three goals and five assists in five games. Dermott has a goal and an assist in five games since joining the Marlies in the second round.

In Dermott’s case, there’s a bit of a shot at redemption. He’s the first to admit the Leafs-Bruins series didn’t go so well for him, so he has a chance with the Marlies to finish on a high, rather than the low of that series against Boston when his confidence was challenged.

“If you’re not playing at your best, you’re not going to play,” said Dermott. “I did have a tough time with that, where I’d make a mistake and they’d make a play. I got a little too caught up in my head, try to do a play that’s not the easy play. It kind of goes downhill from there.”

Dermott scored a goal, but played only 13 minutes and 32 seconds a game in the playoffs after averaging 16 minutes in the regular season.

“I learned from it and going forward, I’ll do better next time,” said Dermott.

Dermott, Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen all started the season as Marlies, and all impressed when promoted mid-season. They all have a chance to be regular NHLers next season. Kapanen joined Finland at the world championship.

“It was awesome (to be in the NHL), such a learning opportunity for me,” said Dermott. “You’re still learning: could have done this, could have done that, so many plays to make. It’s good to have done that. Looking forward next year.”

The Marlies face the Lehigh Valley Phantoms — the top farm team of the Philadelphia Flyers — in the AHL Eastern Conference final starting Saturday at 4 p.m. at Ricoh. Game 2 is Sunday, also at 4 p.m.

It will have been 11 days between games for the Marlies. With that in mind, Keefe used Tuesday for a simulated game, starting at 4 p.m. It was mostly five-on-five for two 20 minute periods, but some six-on-five and power-play/penalty-kill shifts were worked into it. The game featured a referee and two linesmen, a horn when goals were scored, stop-time and even music after stoppages.

“It was cool,” said Dermott, “other than the fans not being there.”

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The Marlies have been knocking on the door of the Calder Cup final, but haven’t been able to reach that goal. They beat Syracuse in the second round, the team that eliminated them last year.

“That was a bit of payback,” said Dermott. “We’re not planning at stopping there. The boys are feeling good going into the conference final. We’ll see if we can get a big win against (Lehigh Valley) and get to the final after that.”

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