VANCOUVER—It’s not a comfortable time for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Practices, with a head coach who still has that new car smell, are long. The standings, which in recent years have had the daily urgency of wallpaper, are a stress. The Leafs are trying to do nothing less than save their season, one day at a time.

So, the pressure is on. And it starts with the stars, and a coach who wants them to play more than they ever have before, as Leafs.

“It’s a philosophy for me,” says Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. “I just think we want to get ahead in games, and want to set our team up for success, so getting those guys out is important for us. And we trust our team and we trust our bench, but I think they all recognize the difference-makers that need to be out there.”

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Since taking over from Mike Babcock, Keefe has made a lot of changes, but one notable difference is in big-player ice time. It’s a small sample, but in the eight games under Keefe, centre John Tavares has ranked third among NHL forwards in 5-on-5 minutes per game, at 16:53; Auston Matthews was fifth, at 16:49; Mitch Marner 12th, at 16:03; William Nylander 27th, at 15:11. (All numbers are from before Monday night’s games.)

Yes, this team rarely draws penalties. But before the change Matthews ranked 12th in the league at 15:12, Nylander 38th at 14:14, Tavares 40th at 13:13, and Marner tied for 134th at 12:43, partly because in addition to the power play, he also kills penalties. All four played less last year, too.

But Keefe is even using timeouts to get them more minutes, and letting the sports science department worry about the big picture. It’s not just that this team started Monday 12th in the East in points percentage, over a third of the way through the season.

No, the Leafs are hitching the wagon to their stars, cap-wise and on the ice. Among all the ways this team is faltering, one is this: in the year of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl dragging Edmonton from the tar, and Nathan MacKinnon roaring in Colorado, and Boston’s big line, the biggest Leafs guns haven’t dominated. There are degrees, of course. Matthews was tied for fifth in goals going into Monday night’s games, and tied for 12th in points; his line with Nylander has been the most consistently dangerous Leafs line. Often, it’s been the only one.

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But Matthews’s points per 60 have dropped too, from 11th to 50th in the league, despite the addition of an in-rhythm Nylander. And of course, Marner and Tavares have struggled the most. Injuries have meant they have only played 14 of 31 games together, including one where Marner was hurt early. And as Marner notes, they have had a rotating cast at left wing.

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But Tavares was fourth in the NHL in 5-on-5 points per minute played last season, and Marner was fifth; along with Matthews, no other team had three in the top 11 in 2018-19. This year, Tavares and Marner have dropped to an unfathomable 337th and 338th, respectively, per the website Natural Stat Trick. Maybe that’s where Keefe — in deployment and progressive attitude — can have the greatest impact.

“I feel like the start of this year we were really uptight and staying within the program, and not trying to be free with the puck and make plays like we can,” says Marner, who will play his third game back from an ankle sprain Tuesday night against Vancouver. “And I think now that we got our freedom, and have the chance to be able to move around and create plays, and have (winger Zach) Hyman make plays around the net and stuff for us, I think we should be getting on a roll here soon. And last game was a good start for us.”

St. Louis on Saturday was a good one for the Hyman-Tavares-Marner line, but it was only one. And every game matters already.

“I think we’ve got a tremendous amount of talent, and I think there’s also a tremendous amount of drive and pride to want to really take charge and lead this thing, and do the job that’s expected of us,” says Tavares, who has 20 points in 24 games after 47 goals and 88 points last season. “And I think most importantly, what we expect of ourselves. So we know we have a special opportunity. I think it’s just maximizing that, and I think all of us want to be great players, and make a big impact. So I think just that internal drive and personal drive to help this team is exceptional and, you know, we want that responsibility.”

“I just expect myself to be a player I know I can be every night,” says Marner, who has 20 points in 20 games.

Before the season, general manager Kyle Dubas was asked about his team’s star-heavy salary structure, with three top-seven cap hits, and admitted signing Tavares as a free agent affected that. But, Dubas said, “We would much rather have those players. And maybe we have to pay them more than some of our other rivals are paying their top-end guys, but we would rather have them than not.”

Well, someone other than the goalie has to save the season. Time to find out who.