O'Reilly returns to action in latest shuffle of Leafs' lines

Apr 5 2023, 5:45 pm

Ryan O’Reilly is coming back to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After being out of the lineup for nearly a month due to a broken finger, O’Reilly confirmed to reporters that he’s planning on playing tomorrow night for Toronto when they visit the Boston Bruins.

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe also confirmed his expectation of O’Reilly in the lineup.

O’Reilly has three goals and two assists in eight games for the Leafs this season after being acquired in a three-team trade from St. Louis, but has yet to play since March 4 against the Canucks, where he suffered the injury.

Per TSN’s Mark Masters, here’s what the lines look like for tomorrow’s matchup, where O’Reilly will be centring the third line with Alex Kerfoot on his left wing and Noel Acciari on his right.

Leafs’ forward lines

  • Michael Bunting — Auston Matthews — Calle Jarnkrok
  • William Nylander — John Tavares — Mitch Marner
  • Alex Kerfoot — Ryan O’Reilly — Noel Acciari
  • Zach Aston-Reese — David Kampf — Sam Lafferty
  • Extras: Abruzzese, Simmonds

The Leafs had previously experimented with using Tavares on O’Reilly’s wing, but it seems like they’ll be opting for the move to spread out their top three centres on three separate lines.

With just five games remaining in the Leafs’ regular season as they gear up for the playoffs, it’s likely they’ll keep this forward group relatively untouched over the next week.

Leafs’ defensive pairs

  • Jake McCabe – TJ Brodie
  • Mark Giordano – Justin Holl
  • Morgan Rielly – Luke Schenn
  • Extras: Erik Gustafsson – Timothy Liljegren

The practice today was also the first in a while for Erik Gustafsson, who left the team on March 25 to deal with a personal matter. He took warmup last night in a 4-2 win over Columbus, but did not skate in the game.

Goalies

  • Ilya Samsonov
  • Joseph Woll

Ilya Samsonov is expected to get the start tomorrow night against Boston, with puck drop set for 7 pm ET.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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