Coach Berube goes to the Max with Maple Leafs lineup change for Game 6 in Battle of Ontario Craig Berube is making a lineup change for Game 6. It’s more of a shuffling on the part of the Maple Leafs coach as he isn’t inserting Nick Robertson or David Kampf at forward after Toronto lost the past two games in the Battle of Ontario. Berube will move veteran Max Pacioretty up to the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander for the game on Thursday night.
“There is always debate about lineup changes,” Berube told media in Ottawa on Thursday morning. “Max had some really good stretches with those guys before he got hurt (in February). Big guy, strong, physical, good around the net, so that was the decision.” ADVERTISEMENT Pacorietty has no points in three games after returning from an undisclosed injury.
He has five shots on goal. In 33 regular-season games together, the Leafs outscored the opposition 11-8 at five-on-five with the trio of Tavares, Pacioretty and Nylander on the ice. After the Leafs built a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, the Sens’ recovery in winning the past two games has tightened the collars of just about anyone who considers themselves a part of Leafs Nation.
Thursday night doesn’t represent a must-win for the Leafs — after all, they still would have a chance to close out the Senators in Game 7 in Toronto on Saturday — but the club has no interest having to play a deciding game on home ice, not after taking a 3-0 lead in the series. Berube was asked about his sense of the Leafs, hours ahead of the opening faceoff. ADVERTISEMENT “Business-like, let’s go,” Berube said.
“Ready to go. Business. Let’s go.” We’ll see how that plays out in what will be a rocking Canadian Tire Centre in the nation’s capital.
With a 1-13 record in potential series clinchers since 2018 — in other words, with captain Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nylander, Tavares and Morgan Rielly running the on-ice show — the Leafs’ post-season failures have been well-documented. Pontus Holmberg, who has no points in the series despite playing for the majority with Tavares and Nylander, will centre a new line between Bobby McMann and Max Domi. The lines of Matthews between Matthew Knies and Marner, and Scott Laughton between Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok remain intact.
Other than Robertson or Kampf, the only other change Berube might have contemplated was starting Joseph Woll instead of Anthony Stolarz in the Leafs net. Stolarz’s save percentage in the series has slipped to .899, but there remains confidence in the room that he can help lead the Leafs to victory. ADVERTISEMENT Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark takes a save percentage of .883 into the game.
A victory by the Leafs would send them to a second-round date with the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Panthers have a bit of down time after requiring just five games to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning, completing the series win on Wednesday night. If the Sens win their third game in a row to tie the series 3-3, they will attempt to become just the fifth team in Stanley Cup playoff history to erase a 3-0 series lead and win.
It hasn’t happened since 2014, when the Los Angeles Kings lost the first three games against the San Jose Sharks in the first round and rallied to take the series. On six other occasions, an NHL team has been down 3-0 and won the next three games only to fall short and lose Game 7. That occurred most recently in the Cup final last spring, when the Edmonton Oilers dug themselves out of a 3-0 hole before losing 2-1 in Game 7 against the Panthers.
tkoshan@postmedia.com X: @koshtorontosun
