Maple Leafs and Sens shake up lineups ahead of Battle of Ontario.
Both teams have made changes ahead of a game with potentially huge playoff implications.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators will face off in the latest rendition of the Battle of Ontario on Saturday night, but this one feels a little different than these games have as of late. That's because on Saturday night both teams will be fighting for their position in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs which hasn't always been the case in recent years with the Senators enduring their fair share of struggles during that stretch.
Perhaps it is for this reason that both teams will be making adjustments to their lineup for Saturday's game, with the biggest of these shifts coming from the Maple Leafs.
It is no secret that Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has struggled to find the back of the net as of late, something that several top Maple Leafs addressed on Saturday, and it should come as no surprise that head coach Craig Berube is shaking up his forward lines in an effort to help Matthews get his groove back.
Here is how the new look Maple Leafs looked during their morning skate, note that with Matthews absent from the morning skate it was David Kampf, who appears to be a healthy scratch tonight, that filled in for him during practice.
Knies-Matthews-Domi
McMann-Tavares-Marner
Jarnkrok-Laughton-Nylander
Lorentz-Holmberg-Robertson
Rielly-Carlo
McCabe-Tanev
Benoit-OEL
Stolarz
The changes from Berube appear to have been received relatively well, but we will have to wait and see how things play out on the ice.
Senators fans on the other hand appear less than pleased with the return of a familiar face that has received a ton of criticism from at significant segment of the Senators fan base. Travis Hamonic was back on the Senators second defensive pairing alongside Thomas Chabot on Saturday morning, much to the dismay of more than a few Senators fans.
Here is how the Sens lineup looked this morning:
Tkachuk-Stützle-Giroux
Perron-Cozens-Batherson
Greig-Pinto-Amadio
Highmore-Gaudette-Zetterlund
Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Hamonic
Kleven-Matinpalo
Ullmark
