After a convincing victory within the confines of the Crypto.com Arena last night against the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has announced a few lineup changes ahead of their game tonight in Anaheim.
Before last night's game, Keefe intimated that he would see how Martin Jones felt afterwards to decide who would be in goal for the Anaheim game. After a 31-save shutout against a top-10 offense, Keefe is going right back to Jones instead of handing rookie netminder Dennis Hildeby his first career NHL start.
The Maple Leafs have one more game remaining on the road trip in San Jose and will return back home to play the very same club in a home-and-home affair, ultimately giving Hildeby a much easier game to patrol the blue paint in his debut and much more time to practice and become acclimated with his teammates.
Another change coming from the coaching staff is that Pontus Holmberg will enter the lineup in lieu of Nick Robertson, who will be a healthy scratch. Holmberg has 6 goals and 10 points in 11 games with the Toronto Marlies this season, while tallying a lone assist in 9 games with the Leafs.
As for Robertson he has 2 goals and 6 points in his last 17 games while averaging 10:30 TOI. He just recently snapped a 14-game scoring drought in Columbus before adding another goal against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, but has struggled offensively this season with just 11 points through 24 games.
For Robertson, this could be a bit of a wake-up call, as the team needs him to take a step forward this season. His career has been severely hampered by injures up until this season and he has lost a lot of time during key developmental years. I'm sure that a trip to the press box will do well to motivate the former 2nd round pick and remind him why he's with the big club, which is to provide some secondary scoring.
