maple leafs

Keefe focused on tinkering with lineup; Leafs vs. Stars

Apr 7, 2022 • 12:30 pm

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have three weeks and a dozen games before the end of the regular season and in that time, head coach Sheldon Keefe is focused on exploring different lineup options and maybe giving some veterans some rest before the start of the playoffs. That tinkering will be taking place in the final of their four-game road trip against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center on Thursday.

After playing in the 7-6 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers, Toronto will rotate out fourth-liners Kyle Clifford and former Star Jason Spezza and insert Wayne Simmonds and rookie Nick Abruzzese.

"We've got 12 games left. I don't worry about (playing him against his former team) with a veteran like Spezza. Taking him out is just as simple as we want to keep Abruzzese going," Keefe said. "He showed positive progression in a tough game against Tampa, so why not continue with him."

Defensively, the decision to sit Ilya Lyubushkin over Justin Holl on Tuesday was curious based on his solid defensive play since being acquired from Arizona, but it appears that Keefe will be rotating on the blueline and toying with different combos, as the right-handed Russian returns to the lineup against the Stars.

"The last game we opted for familiarity coming in the back-to-back in a big hockey game, keeping (Mark Giordano) and Liljegren together, Rielly-Brodie and Muzzin-Holl,… Keefe said, “but as we talked about, we need to try different things here. We don't have a lot of time left and Muzzin has just come back into our lineup that now has Giordano and Lyubushkin in it."

Lyubushkin will reunite with Rielly, Muzzin will play with Brodie, and Giordano will play for the first time with Holl. Jack Campbell replaced the injured Erik Kallgren and took the loss against the Panthers, but will make the start against Dallas backup Scott Wedgewood.

"We didn't want to have to use them the other day, but it's not a full game for him. Sometimes the actual playing of the game is not the hardest part as much as that may be hard to believe, it's that you're always on mentally," Keefe said "I think he got a bit of that the other day, but terms of the rest of the schedule, we'll take it a day at a time. We definitely are going to use two goalies, I think we have one back-to-back remaining here, but aside from that, we'll just manage it day-to-day."

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Another interesting lineup factor may be the potential of the Leafs signing 2021 second-round pick Matthew Knies following the Frozen Four. The 19-year-old winger has 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists) in 32 games, has been a force for the University of Minnesota in the NCAA Regionals, and may be signed to an entry-level deal if the Golden Gophers get eliminated on Thursday or after the National Championship game on Saturday.

Almost a carbon copy of his goal in the final minute against Michigan last week, Matt Knies gloves down a puck and snipes from the slot to tie it up late:#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/V3T0zdKZQ1
— Nick Richard (@_NickRichard) March 26, 2022

The question is whether Knies gets the same long look Abruzzese is getting over the final three weeks and if he potentially could earn a look in the post-season as Nick Robertson did in the bubble two years ago.

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