Maple Leafs shake up their lines with Matthews out
The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying something new — but it’s not necessarily by choice.
Today, the team is working around the absence of captain Auston Matthews, who was announced out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. With Matthews being a staple on the Leafs’ top line, it’ll be Max Domi bumping up in the lineup to slot in alongside Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies.
Meanwhile, John Tavares centres the team’s other top forward unit, with Max Pacioretty and William Nylander flanking him on the wings.
Toronto is hosting the Boston Bruins tonight at 7 pm ET, the second matchup between the two Atlantic Division foes this season.
Here’s how the Leafs line up at forward, as per The Hockey News’ David Alter:
- Matthew Knies – Max Domi – Mitch Marner
- Max Pacioretty- John Tavares – William Nylander
- Bobby McMann – Pontus Homberg – Nick Robertson
- Steven Lorentz – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves
And here’s how the defensive pairs shake out:
- Morgan Rielly – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
- Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev
- Simon Benoit – Connor Timmins
- Extras: Matt Benning -Philippe Myers
The team is awaiting the return of forward Connor Dewar and defenceman Jani Hakanpaa, who both made their season debuts for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies in conditioning stints on Saturday night.
Anthony Stolarz is projected to be Toronto’s starting goalie on the night, while Joseph Woll will be backing him up.
Toronto is coming off a 2-1 overtime loss against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night but will be able to rest until Friday when they take on the Detroit Red Wings at home, before hosting the Montreal Canadiens the next night.
“We were a little gassed in the third, you know?” Leafs coach Craig Berube said following the loss. “We killed a lot of penalties, and we were gassed, but [Stolarz] stood tall for us. It is a good point.”
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