Sheldon Keefe shakes up line combinations and defensive pairings at practice
After a miserable, slow and underwhelming first period against the Islanders last night, Sheldon Keefe put his lines in a blender to start the second period. Notably, he had William Nylander playing with John Tavares and Mitch Marner back with Auston Matthews. The change worked wonders as Nylander had a 4-point period, Tavares had 2 points in the middle frame and Matthews scored in the third.
Keefe has flipped Marner and Nylander at times during the season when he has felt the Leafs needed a jolt of energy and a few weeks ago, he hinted that he may be willing to make it a more permanent change. However, until this morning at practice, he continued to have Nylander alongside Matthews and Marner alongside Tavares. This morning's practice though, Keefe stuck with the changes he made last night and has reunited Marner with Matthews and Michael Bunting and had slotted Nylander next to Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok.
Not only did Keefe shake up his top two lines, but he also shuffled Zach Aston-Reese out of the lineup in favour of Joey Anderson, who was recalled before practice. On the blueline, Jordie Benn was taking reps with Rasmus Sandin and Conor Timmins was the odd man out taking rushing with the still injured T.J. Brodie. Timothy Liljegren and Justin Holl also swapped partners.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 24 | 255 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe shakes up line combinations and defensive pairings at practice Should the Leafs roll the Matthews/Marner and Tavares/Nylander duos for Thursday's game? | ||
| Yes | 229 | 89.8 % |
| No | 26 | 10.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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