Toronto Maple Leafs forced to shuffle lines after Matthews injury
The Toronto Maple Leafs will be mixing things up when they take to the ice on Thursday night.
The Leafs host the Los Angeles Kings at Scotiabank Arena, with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
But as announced this morning, captain Auston Matthews is expected to miss a few games while dealing with a lower-body injury suffered earlier this week against the Boston Bruins. Though the injury isn’t expected to be serious, it’ll still be an uphill battle for Toronto to turn around their three-game losing streak without one of their star players.
Toronto Maple Leafs lines
The Matthews injury has caused a shakeup to the team’s lines, with John Tavares now slotting in as the top centre. While Tavares is no slouch as a second option, the team’s looking a little thinner down the middle.
Here’s the expected forward group, via TSN’s Mark Masters:
- Matthew Knies – John Tavares – William Nylander
- Nick Robertson – Max Domi – Bobby McMann
- Dakota Joshua – Nic Roy – Matias Maccelli
- Sammy Blais – Steven Lorentz – Calle Jarnkrok
And here’s the defensive units:
- Morgan Rielly – Brandon Carlo
- Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
- Dakota Mermis – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Dennis Hildeby will be in Toronto’s net, while the recently recalled Artur Akhtyamov will be his backup. Typical starter Anthony Stolarz was also injured earlier this week, while Joseph Woll has yet to debut in the NHL this season while working himself back from a personal leave.
Toronto has sort of fumbled their way through the first month-and-a-bit of the season, as they sit 14th in the Eastern Conference and outside of the playoff picture.
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