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Line shuffle after Chi-Town track meet; Leafs vs. Stars

October 9, 2018, 5:01 PM ET [746 Comments]
Mike Augello
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Mike Babcock was happy to earn two points in a wild 7-6 overtime victory in Chicago on Sunday, but indicated after the game that although the contest was entertaining for the fans, his club was giving up too many offensive chances and allowing too many goals.

The Leafs head coach is looking for better results and has shaken up his line combinations after only three games, as Toronto will take on the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Arena on Tuesday.

“(Normally) you can’t outscore your mistakes. The other night in Chicago, we were able to do that, but it doesn’t happen very often.” Babcock said. “We’ve got to play right or else you aren’t going to have success.”

Of their four forward lines, only the unit of John Tavares, Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman will remain intact. Kasperi Kapanen replaced Tyler Ennis on the top line with Auston Matthews and Patrick Marleau midway through the first period in Chicago and that line will stay in place after combining for two goals.

“(Kapanen) opens up a lot of space with his speed,” Matthews said in Dallas on Tuesday. “You saw that on his first goal, you put the puck out there for him and nine times out of 10 he’s going to be the first guy on it. He adds a lot of speed and skill to the line.”



Par Lindholm will shift from center to left wing on the third line, alongside Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown. Frederik Gauthier will see his first action of the season, centering the fourth line with Josh Leivo and Ennis and Andreas Johnsson will be scratched.

Johnsson, the Calder Cup Playoff MVP last season, has been a target of criticism since training camp, as Babcock wanted to see a similar effort from the speedy winger when he was called up from the Toronto Marlies last March.

Johnsson is pointless in three games and on Sunday, the 23-year-old played a team low 7:28 and took a careless double-minor for high sticking in the second period.

The contest will be the first time that the Leafs face former teammates Roman Polak and Connor Carrick. The veteran Polak signed with Dallas as a free agent after playing four seasons in Toronto. Carrick, who failed to nail down a job on the blueline in training camp, was traded to the Stars for a conditional draft pick last week and currently leads his new club in defensive scoring with three points.

“(Polak)is tough to play against. I sat next to him in the locker room for two years at the practice rink. He’s a real good guy.” Matthews said. “He’s built like a mountain, definitely not a guy you want to run into.”

Defenseman Igor Ozhiganov draws back into the lineup on the bottom pairing, replacing Martin Marincin and Frederik Andersen gets the start in goal.

Dallas is 2-0 under new head coach Jim Montgomery and will go with Ben Bishop between the pipes.

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