Even though the Leafs dressed 12 forwards for Game 1 last night, Sheldon Keefe was not scared to tinker with his lines as we saw him roll out a number of different combinations. One of those, of course, was reuniting Mitch Marner with Auston Matthews. However, with today being an optional practice, with a handful of regulars absent, Keefe was able to keep his potential line changes under wraps.
Following practice, Keefe suggested that he isn't sure if he will leave Marner and Matthews together, but that he is leaning towards it. He felt the team responded much better after he switched William Nylander and Marner and said that the challenge against Florida is to maximize the skill advantage the Leafs have over the Panthers.
Keefe did not say whether he was leaning towards using 12 forwards and 6 defensemen again or if he would revert to an 11F and 7D lineup similar to the one they used in Game 6 against Tampa. The Leafs' bench boss says that's something he and his coaching staff are still discussing. However, if Keefe truly wants to maximize the skill advantage, 11 and 7 would be the way to go so that he can get Matthews and Marner away from certain matchups and even double up guys like Ryan O'Reilly in more of a shutdown roll against the Matthew Tkachuk line at times if needed.
