Reason for Tyler Bertuzzi's 1st period absence revealed

The Toronto Maple Leafs lent a big hand to a handful of teams who are chasing the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, as they defeated the Washington Capitals last night at Capital One Arena in what was a 7-3 drubbing. It was a costly loss for the Capitals, who could have leap-frogged the idle Detroit Red Wings in the standings had they earned two points. 

But during the 1st period, fans and analysts alike were quick to notice that Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi was glued to the bench for the first half of the game's opening frame. However, he would eventually make his way onto the ice, and even scored a goal late in the 3rd period. 

But as head coach Sheldon Keefe would explain afterward, it had nothing to do with sending a message of tough love to the scrappy forward, but rather that he was feeling under the weather. In fact, there was a question on whether or not Bertuzzi would even be able to suit up at all.

"It was a bit questionable if he was even going to play tonight," Keefe said of Bertuzzi. "Just before warmup, he was saying he wasn’t feeling right. He went through warmup, and he still wasn’t quite feeling it, but he felt good enough to the point where he was going to stay in uniform.

We didn’t have any others in uniform tonight. The only other eligible player was Brodie, who we were giving a mental day away to anyhow. We decided to stick with Bert.

He wanted some time when the game was going, getting out there with the noise and all of the things that go on in the chaos of the game just to make sure he was good. Once we got through the first TV timeout, he went out for a little skate and thought he was good to go. We put him in the mix." 

Bertuzzi's goal was his 15th of the season; he's also amassed 19 assists in what is his first season with the Leafs.

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