Maple Leafs Reveal Line Combinations Against Anaheim; One Leaf Riding the Pine Once Again
After a thrilling overtime victory Tuesday, the Maple Leafs have made Nicholas Robertson a healthy scratch for a third straight game against the Anaheim Ducks.
Before the gameday skate Thursday, the Leafs made a pair of roster moves recalling Nikita Grebenkin from the Marlies and sending Marshall Rifai down to the AHL.
Those moves indicated that Bobby McMann was not ready to return from his lower-body injury, but Jake McCabe is good to go.
At the morning skate, Craig Berube surprised many when he had Grebenkin, along with Robertson skating as extras, marking the third consecutive game as a scratch for Robertson.
With the former second-round pick a scratch again, eyebrows have been raised and have caused some to wonder if his time with the Maple Leafs is finally coming to an end.
Up front, all eyes will be on Max Domi as he looks to score his first goal of the season, following Pontus Holmberg breaking his 8-game goalless drought Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils. The two are skating on opposite sides of rookie Fraser Minten, who has looked excellent since joining the Leafs as their third line center.
The rest of the forward group remains the same with Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner skating together and after showing his physical side, Max Pacioretty remains on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander in the top six after being demoted from the top line earlier this week.
On the back end, Morgan Rielly was reunited with Oliver Ekman-Larsson thanks to the return of Jake McCabe, who rejoined Chris Tanev.
With McCabe's return, Philippe Myers will once again be a healthy scratch for the Leafs as Simon Benoit was shifted back to his partnership with Conor Timmins on the third pair.
In goal, Anthony Stolarz gets the nod after a spectacular performance Tuesday that earned him some high praise from Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 12 | 1603 ANSWERS Maple Leafs Reveal Line Combinations Against Anaheim; One Leaf Riding the Pine Once Again Is Nick Robertson's time in Toronto coming to an end after a third straight healthy scratch? | ||
| It was over months ago | 584 | 36.4 % |
| Yes | 741 | 46.2 % |
| No, he just needs to reset | 128 | 8 % |
| I don't know anymore | 150 | 9.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
