TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs had a day off on Sunday and head coach Mike Babcock hopes his players were watching the Super Bowl closely.

"Did anybody see the people compete?" the coach asked reporters rhetorically after Monday's practice. "I love the way that people compete that win. It's unbelievable. If you're watching at all and you're watching how hard (the Denver Broncos worked) and how important team is and how speed on defence leads to winning, I mean, there was lots of good things you could learn yesterday."

The offensively-challenged Broncos won an ugly game over the favoured Carolina Panthers. The Leafs are hoping to replicate that recipe during a Western road trip over the next week, which will include stops in Calgary (Tuesday), Edmonton (Thursday), Vancouver (Saturday) and Chicago (Monday).

Toronto has scored just 10 goals over the last seven games and will be without Tyler Bozak when they take on the Flames. According to Babcock, Bozak wasn't feeling well after getting hit in the head by Mika Zibanejad during Saturday's blowout loss in Ottawa.

But Bozak was only one of three Leafs to go down with an injury during the game against the Senators. Joffrey Lupul is dealing with what Babcock calls a "middle-body injury" and has been placed on injured reserve. Shawn Matthias, injured in a collision with Leo Komarov, has whiplash and also won't make the flight to Calgary although Babcock left open the possibility that he may join the team later in the trip. The loss of Bozak and James van Riemsdyk (out since Jan. 9 with a non-displaced fracture in his left foot) leaves the Leafs without two of their top three scorers.

Mark Arcobello, Josh Leivo and Rich Clune were called up from the AHL on Monday.

"There's an opportunity here," Babcock said. "Every time you get an opportunity it's up to you. I'm dying for someone to score a goal."

Babcock has previously noted his players experienced a dip in confidence after van Riemsdyk got hurt. He's expecting they will handle the latest rash of injuries a lot better.

"Obviously, we're more offensively challenged, but that doesn't mean you can't find ways to win: play well without the puck, check real hard, compete real hard, score on your power play, stay out of the penalty box so there's lots of good ways to go about it," Babcock said. "It's a real challenge for us and we're excited about doing it."

Arcobello may be the top candidate to step up. He has been lighting up the AHL this season posting 44 points in 34 games with the Toronto Marlies.

"Well, he shoots it in the net," said Babcock. "He flat out shoots it in the net. I haven't seen that at this level here so we've talked about that."

Before being recalled, Arcobello was riding an eight-game point streak in the AHL (eight goals and eight assists in that stretch). On Monday, he practiced as the centre on a line with Peter Holland and P.A. Parenteau while also taking reps on the power play.

"It's just bringing the confidence with me," the 27-year-old said. "I established a lot of confidence down there in myself and it's just a matter of bringing it here and using that on the ice."

Arcobello has failed to pick up a point in 11 games with the Leafs this season with his last chance coming on Jan. 7 in Los Angeles.

Babcock was asked what is the biggest difference between being able to produce in the AHL versus the NHL. "Well, size and speed," the coach said. "You're not playing against trees in the back end in the American Hockey League, you're playing against regular-sized people."

The Leafs hope the injection of hungry call-ups may offer a spark in the wake of one of the team's more lopsided losses this season. Saturday's setback in Ottawa marked the sixth time Toronto has lost by four or more goals.

"I don't think you do anything for your sweater or your pride when you play like that," Babcock said.

The lesson from the embarrassing loss was obvious, according to the coach. "It's real clear how we have to play with our lineup. We went through that this morning, kind of did a system review on video, before we went on the ice."

The message was received loud and clear.

"There's a lot of guys who have a lot to prove in this locker room," Parenteau said, "so I'm expecting a hard-working game from our team (in Calgary)."

There's no secret, according to the players, why Toronto stumbled in the nation's capital.

"That was a lack of competing. We have to avoid that at any cost," Parenteau said following a skating-heavy workout. "It's competing and it starts in practice and when you have a good practice week you usually have good starts and play good so we tried to implement that in our game this morning."