Craig Berube Rewards Max Domi, Makes Significant Changes to Leafs' Forward Group

Max Domi was by far the Leafs' best player Thursday night in their 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, which has led to a promotion for Saturday's game from Craig Berube.

Auston Matthews was given the morning off, but will play on Saturday night against Ottawa. In his absence, David Kampf took reps as Matthews' placeholder alongside Matthew Knies and Max Domi on a new-look top line.

Domi, who has struggled mightily this season, tallying just 5 goals and 26 points, finally gets an opportunity in the position that saw him have most of his success last season.

The move comes after months of pleas from fans to Berube to put Domi in that position instead of forcing him to play a role less suited for him lower in the lineup, with players who can't make proper use of his exceptional playmaking skills.

In promoting Domi, Mitch Marner drops down to the second line with Bobby McMann and John Tavares, while William Nylander will skate alongside Scott Laughton and Calle Jarnkrok on a dangerous-looking 3rd line.

In place of Kampf, who projects to be a healthy scratch Saturday, Pontus Holmberg centered the fourth line with Steven Lorentz and Nicholas Robertson, who draws back in after being a healthy scratch for the previous two games.

On the back end, it'll be status quo for the Leafs as they hope that Brandon Carlo and Morgan Rielly will continue to get more comfortable with each other. Chris Tanev, who returned to the lineup Thursday after missing six games, remains with Jake McCabe on the Leafs' shutdown pairing, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Simon Benoit round out the third pairing.

The Battle of Ontario always provides fireworks, so tonight's game should be an entertaining one, especially with some significant lineup adjustments in Toronto.