Maple Leafs make multiple lineup changes, but not the ones most were hoping for

Less than 24 hours after one of their worst performances of the season, coupled with head coach Craig Berube pointing his finger towards his players for their poor effort in a 4-0 loss, the Toronto Maple Leafs returned to the ice surface showing very minimal changes.

The main change up front is forward Calle Jarnkrok replacing Steven Lorentz on the fourth line, playing next to Max Domi and Scott Laughton. Other than that, the lines remained the exact same, including the top-loaded first line featuring Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, and William Nylander.

Jarnkrok being the only change for the forward group also means that Matias Maccelli remains a press box visitor, despite Berube claiming that he needed to find a way to get him back in the lineup. You'd think an embarrassing loss would be reason enough to give the youngster another opportunity.

On the back-end, Philippe Myers makes his return in lieu of Henry Thrun, and was skating on the top pair with Morgan Rielly. That should go over well...

Oliver Ekman-Larsson was shifted down to the third pairing with Simon Benoit, leaving the second pair of Jake McCabe and Troy Stecher untouched.

The major change coming from last night is the top pair on defense as Rielly and Ekman-Larsson combined for a minus-7 on a night where 4 goals were scored. Thrun didn't have a particularly off night, but he's the only interchangeable piece on the back-end if you're looking to make changes.

Up front, you would have liked to have seen the top line broken up and maybe even giving Easton Cowan another look with Matthews and Knies. The trio looked out of sorts last night and were a combined minus-6 with very minimal peripherals.

Only time will tell if this was the right decision from the coaching staff but they won't have too much time to dwell on things as they visit the Nashville Predators tomorrow night and then the Dallas Stars the following night.