Ryan Reaves will be a healthy scratch against the Tampa Bay Lightning with Max Pacioretty drawing back into the line-up.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning meet tonight for the first of four meetings during this season's campaign.
Both team's come in from losses on Saturday night where the Toronto Maple Leafs fell 4-1 to the New York Rangers, while the Lightning fell to the Ottawa Senators 5-4 after winning their first three games of the season.
The Maple Leafs will look to slow down the early season leading Hart Trophy candidate Nikita Kucherov who has scored in each game this year including a hattrick in the season opener.
The two-time Art Ross Trophy winner currently leads the league in goals with seven thanks to some early season chemistry with new teammate Jake Guentzel.
Max Pacioretty Returns to the Line-up for Toronto Maple Leafs
Craig Berube confirmed after the Monday morning skate that Max Pacioretty would return to the line-up and he would be taking the place of Ryan Reaves. After the Toronto Maple Leafs were shutout in the season opener, Pacioretty scored the first goal of the season for the club in their second contest, but had trouble generating any type of offence which led to him being a healthy scratch over the last two games.
Reaves will be a healthy scratch for the second time this season, but the 37-year old has looked like less of a liability this season finding chemistry with David Kämpf and Steven Lorentz on the fourth line.
Anthony Stolarz will make his fifth start in six games and has looked like the most valuable Maple Leaf through the opening games of the season. The 2024 Stanley Cup champion has posted a 2-2-0 record and has stopped 104 of 111 shots in his first four games good for a 1.79 GAA and .937 save percentage. Berube also stated that Joe Woll has not been ruled out of starting the second game of their back-to-back contests this week and could be back in net in Columbus against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday. If Woll returns, Dennis Hildeby will be returned to the Toronto Marlies where a goaltending controversy may just be brewing.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Lightning split their season series two games a piece last year, however, Toronto required overtime for both their victories with John Tavares and Calle Järnkrok collecting the winning tallies in the extra period.
