Maple Leafs Shake Up Their Lineup with the Continued Absence of Auston Matthews
Coming out of the holiday break, the Toronto Maple Leafs shook up their lineup against the Red Wings in the absence of captain Auston Matthews.
Going into their game on Monday against the Winnipeg Jets, Craig Berube tinkered around with his lines to no avail. The Toronto Maple Leafs broke up several lines that were working, including their red hot third line, but ultimately fell 5-2 on home ice.
After several days off and a lot of time to mull things over, Berube opted to change up his lines, especially at the very top.
Max Pacioretty was skating alongside John Tavares and Mitch Marner. Matthew Knies was on the wing on the Leafs' 2nd line with Pontus Holmberg down the middle and William Nylander opposite him to round out the top six.
In the bottom six, the third line of Bobby McMann, Max Domi, and Nick Robertson was reunited in hopes that they can pick up where they left off in the week before the Christmas break.
That left depth forwards Steven Lorentz, David Kampf, and Connor Dewar to take on most of the grunt work and round out the forward corps.
Previously, Pacioretty was playing with Kampf and McMann, while Knies was with Tavares and Marner. Robertson, Domi, and Nylander represented the third trio, and Lorentz, Holmberg, and Dewar skated on the fourth line on Monday.
On the back end, Morgan Rielly was paired up with Philippe Myers. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was seen skating next to Simon Benoit, but the good news for the blueline is that Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev were back together, which could very well signal a return for Tanev, who was labelled as a game-time decision on Friday morning.
Conor Timmins was the extra defenseman and Ryan Reaves was the 13th forward, indicating that they will be the healthy scratches tonight.
The third line has been on fire over the last two weeks with McMann and Robertson notching 3 goals and 6 points and Domi collecting 3 goals and 5 points.
It was a questionable move to break them up in their last game before the break, but it seems as though Berube noticed that they were missing their jam last time out and decided to reunite them once more.
Joseph Woll has been tabbed as the likely starter as well in a slightly surprising move, considering the Washington Capitals pose a bigger threat. Nevertheless, the Maple Leafs seem confident in either goaltender at this stage of the season.
The Maple Leafs will look to get back on track tonight as a victory would have them tied with the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division.
