Without Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, Maple Leafs Pick Up ‘Character’ Win Against Lightning
The Toronto Maple Leafs are resting two of their top forwards and having a defenseman slot in at forward as things are about to get really weird against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
TAMPA — Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Mark Giordano will rest while Conor Timmins will switch from defense to forward as the Toronto Maple Leafs lean heavily into load management on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Maple Leafs will dress a skater short as they deal with some injuries. Calle Jarnkrok will return after missing the last two games with an undisclosed injury. Sam Lafferty will be scratched with an unknown injury while defenseman Erik Gustafsson will also sit due to an upper-body injury sustained during the warmup of the team's 2-1 victory against the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Marner's scratch is perhaps the most surprising as the forward is one point away from hitting 100 points on the season. The forward voiced his frustration days after he was a healthy scratch for load management in a game against the Detroit Red Wings on April 2.
"I don't think anybody is a big fan of missing games, but the conversations he has with me are different with me is different than the conversation he has with you (the media)," Keefe said.
The Maple Leafs and Lightning are already locked into the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in the Atlantic Division and have nothing to play for in the standings. The regular season concludes on Saturday. Given the stakes and other injuries, Toronto has decided to rest key players and dress short rather than field a full lineup with both teams meeting in the Stanley Cup Playoffs next week.
"All of our players, Mitch included, are looking big picture," Keefe added. "Mitch has played more than anybody on our team and is going to play more than anybody on our team when it counts the most."
In addition to dressing short a skater and resting key players, the Leafs will have amateur goaltender Matt Onuska back up Joseph Woll. Ilya Samsonov is not expected to dress for the remainder of the regular season.
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