Maple Leafs make significant changes to lineup, scratch Easton Cowan

The Toronto Maple Leafs laid an egg against the Seattle Kraken Saturday night. From not even coming close to responding to Mason Marchment running over Anthony Stolarz, to allowing a heartbreaking overtime winner and losing a point the team needs; it was just a massive mess. And head coach Craig Berube is responding by changing up how the lineup looks.

At Monday's practice the day before the Leafs host the New Jersey Devils, Berube has shuffled the forward lineup and strayed away from the typical trios we have seen through the start of the season.

Berube stuck with what he knows: There are partnerships that work. It would be baffling to even start to think of separating Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies on the top line, but for who should be their other winger? Rookie Easton Cowan has gone from the top line all the way to being a healthy scratch.

After showing up during some moments and earning his first NHL point, Cowan has largely been a passenger on that line and not someone to really be able to string along and play at the level of those two. So, in comes Max Domi.

Domi was on that line throughout stretches during training camp and in the preseason, but didn't fully click. Here's hoping that after recovering from a minor injury, and then having to play at center due to Scott Laughton's injury, that Domi is ready to bring the offense on that top line.

Matias Maccelli is staying with Tavares and Nylander, despite Berube shuffling the lines in the middle of Saturday's game and putting Nylander on the top line for a period of time. And then due to Domi's addition as first-line right wing, Nicolas Roy is finally levitated from his fourth-line duties and is bringing Dakota Joshua with him to re-create a line we saw through preseason, as well.

And of course, Steven Lorentz is back and now playing down the middle. Nick Robertson suffers a demotion down to the fourth line after playing with Domi and McMann on the third for the majority of the season so far, and Calle Jarnkrok is back in the lineup after unfortunately being a healthy scratch against Seattle.

Now, of course no one knows if this new combination of the 12 forwards will provide anything but the same sort of disappointment we saw over the weekend, but at least there's a change. Plus, the reliance on rookie Cowan to play on the first line felt like a sink-or-swim week and while it started off promising, Toronto needs all the points they can get in the standings and that experiment is now over.

Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday when the Leafs host the Devils and see if this new lineup can do anything.