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When the Toronto Maple Leafs take the ice Monday evening against the Tampa Bay Lightning, fans will notice a different lineup compared to Saturday’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Head coach Craig Berube has removed forward Nicholas Robertson from the lineup, while Calle Jarnkrok is coming back in. Additionally, defenseman Dakota Mermis will draw back in, while Philippe Myers will be sitting along with Robertson.
Robertson has been going through a prolonged offensive slump, having scored just one goal in his last nine games despite creating multiple chances and seeing his defensive play improve.
According to Berube, Robertson’s play has dropped off, but he has confidence that things will turn for the better with him.
“Well, it has dropped off,” Berube said about Robertson’s game. “I talked to Nicky this morning. Some of it is ice time, obviously. He was playing in the top six and was doing a good job. You make changes, but I have all the confidence that he will get it back. To me, he has lost a little bit of his jump and tenacity. At the same time, it is a little bit of ice time and getting the opportunity, too.
As far as inserting Jarnkrok back into the lineup, he feels that he’ll assist in their penalty killing.
“More penalty killing,” he said of the reason behind adding him back. “It is a good power play over there (in Tampa), and I just wanted an extra killer in tonight. That line — Laughton, Lorentz, and Jarnkrok — is a good checking line for us, too. We’ll need that.”
Monday’s tilt against the Lightning will be the second of five straight games on home ice for the Maple Leafs, who have won three of their past four games.
So far this season, Robertson has scored six goals while adding six assists in 27 games played, while averaging 12:39 of ice time per outing.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs Have Shuffled Their Lines
The Maple Leafs felt it necessary to switch things up before facing the Lightning, and will be skating with the following line combinations for this evening’s contest at Scotiabank Arena:
Knies-Matthews-Domi
Cowan-Tavares-Nylander
Joshua-Roy-McMann
Lorentz-Laughton-Jarnkrok
Rielly-Ekman-Larsson
McCabe-Stecher
Benoit-Mermis
Because of the ongoing injury situation with goaltenders Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, Dennis Hildeby will be getting his second consecutive start between the pipes.
Meanwhile, the Lightning will be starting Jonas Johansson in place of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is also unavailable due to injury.
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Nicholas Robertson Was Re-Signed By Toronto This Past Offseason
Robertson, whom the Leafs selected in the second round (53rd overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft, re-signed with the club on a one-year extension during the offseason, avoiding salary arbitration. He’ll earn $1,825,000 this season.
Last season, Robertson appeared in 69 games, scoring 15 goals with seven assists, and he contributed another goal with an assist in three postseason games as the Maple Leafs were eventually eliminated by the Florida Panthers for the second time in the last three years.
He’s played his entire NHL career with the Maple Leafs, and has scored 38 goals with 30 assists in 183 games. He’s also added two goals with an assist in 13 career postseason games.
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