Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube revealed that Anthony Stolarz would be getting the start Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.
During a brief media availability, he also told reporters that Nick Robertson would be a healthy scratch, making room for Pontus Holmberg, who was already confirmed to be in on Friday. Berube did not reveal if he would shuffle up the lines beyond rotating Holmberg into the fold so those will be found out closer to puck drop.
Going back to Stolarz means that the Leafs are sticking with the rotation and Joseph Woll will get the start on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks. The latter is coming off a tough showing against the San Jose Sharks which included a blooper moment where an errant clearing attempt resulted in a goal against.
“It’s a little up and down. They have had real good games, too,” Berube said on the Leafs’ goaltending since the 4 Nations Face-Off ended. “It is a little bit like our game: a little too inconsistent at times. But hey, they have played really well for us this year. They’ve been really solid. They are going to have off-nights like everybody else does.”
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who missed out on Friday’s practice due to their heavy workload, are expected to be good to go for Saturday’s contest. They along with Matthew Knies are Toronto’s most-commonly used unit at 5-on-5 by far, and it doesn’t appear that Berube has any intention of breaking this line-up anytime soon.
What is unknown at the time of filing is what Berube decides to do with the third pairing as Simon Benoit and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have not been working out to this point. The former sat for lengthy stretches of Thursday’s game, which leaves one to wonder if Philippe Myers will slot back in.
Here are the projected lines taking all of this into account:
Forwards
Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann-John Tavares-William Nylander
Scott Laughton-Max Domi-Calle Jarnkrok
Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Pontus Holmberg
Defence
Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev
Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo
Simon Benoit-Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Goalies
Anthony Stolarz (confirmed starter)
Joseph Wolla
