The Maple Leafs have been grinding out wins despite some uneven five-on-five performances against lesser competition. Now, they’ll be tested against a structured, playoff-bound team with elite special teams and a generally strong command over the five-on-five play.
Ahead of the matchup against a fast and deep Hurricanes team, Craig Berube is making some adjustments to his bottom six forwards and two of three defense pairings, swapping out Max Pacioretty (pointless in five, minus-four) and Ryan Reaves in favour of the “speed” Nick Robertson and Pontus Holmberg.
On defense, Morgan Rielly will shift next to Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson next to Philippe Myers (a new pairing this season), a move Anthony Petrielli advocated for in his recent notebook:
With Jake McCabe on IR, I’d like to see a bit more of a shake-up… The OEL-Tanev pairing wasn’t particularly strong in terms of driving play up ice, and they didn’t really bring out the best in each other (OEL wasn’t potent offensively, and Tanev wasn’t dictating play up ice as he normally does).