Sheldon Keefe makes some major changes to lineup following 6-4 loss to the Sabres
Following Maple Leafs' fourth loss in a row last night, this time to the Buffalo Sabres, the team returned to the ice this morning for practice. With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner accounting for all four of the Leafs' goals last night, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe shuffled up the forward lines up in a big way.
Rookie Matthew Knies skated along side Matthews and Marner while Tyler Bertuzzi remained next to William Nylander and John Tavares. The biggest changes are to the 3rd line, with Max Domi now playing with Calle Jarnkrok and Pontus Holmberg. It's important to note that all 3 can play center, but Domi was skating as the 3C at practice. The fourth line featured David Kampf between Noah Gregor and Ryan Reaves in a combination that we saw earlier this season.
On the blueline, Jake McCabe returned to practice and skated on the second pairing with John Klingberg. Mark Giordano was absent from practice, likely for a maintenance day, while William Lagesson had a rotating partner in Max Lajoie and Simon Benoit, with Benoit likely to rotate in on Monday if needed.
Hopefully, the return of McCabe to practice means he will also return to the lineup tomorrow. His addition would surely help take some of the strain and minutes off of the rest of the top-four and lead to a more balanced ice time distribution after Keefe admittedly has played his top guys too much over the past couple of games.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 5 | 337 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe makes some major changes to lineup following 6-4 loss to the Sabres Should the Leafs give Max Domi a run at center? | ||
| Yes | 280 | 83.1 % |
| No | 57 | 16.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
