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The initial one-on-one session between the two dealt with positioning. It quickly transitioned into regular drills he was used to seeing from Leafs goaltending coach Steve Briere.

“He’s great and I need some tweaks in my game a little bit,” Bernier said of Greco. “We both want my game at the level it should be, and he’s going to help me to get there.”

Before practice wrapped up, Bernier rounded up a bunch of players to play a game of rebound in which he stopped the majority of the shots. The victory may be small, but for a goaltender that hasn’t won a game this season and has just one win in his last 19 games, it’s a start.

“He’s come in with a good attitude. Every time I see him, he’s got a big smile on his face, I think he’s enjoying his time,” Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I think that’s the best part of him being here. Just to enjoy playing the game and have fun.”

Bernier will start for the Marlies Friday night in Rochester. It is believed he could play as many as four of the Marlies’ six games over the next two weekends.

Prior to Thursday, Bernier appeared to have lost his smile.

A conditioning assignment to the AHL is typically used as a method to help players get into some games after a long layoff because of injury. But the Leafs have recently used conditioning assignments to allow players simply to play, regardless of health.