The Toronto Maple Leafs will likely be without their superstar, William Nylander, for the final game of their western road trip in Winnipeg. Nylander, who was injured during the opening frame of their 6-5 overtime loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, will be out with a lower-body injury. The Maple Leafs are awaiting test results to determine the root cause of the injury, as many do not know when the injury occurred. The Maple Leafs head into Saturday’s contest two points out of a playoff spot.
This will be Nylander’s second lower-body injury during the month of January. Nylander was injured on December 27th against the Ottawa Senators. This injury had him sit out for six games, including a matchup with the Winnipeg Jets. The timeline of Nylander’s injury is not yet known, but as the Maple Leafs' leading forward and with the team bouncing in and out of a playoff spot, he mustn’t miss a significant amount of time.
Moving forward without Nylander
Without William Nylander, the Maple Leafs will need their depth scoring to play a big role in Saturday night’s game. The Leafs will have to reshuffle the lines to what Craig Berube best sees fit. We will likely see Matthew Knies jump back up into the top six alongside John Tavares and Matias Maccelli. The Maple Leafs have also been dealing with maintenance injuries as well. In a recent practice, we saw Matthew Knies, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Joseph Woll, and John Tavares sit out. Berube commented on the injuries and noted that there is no concern for any of these players. In Nylander’s absence, we could see a return of Calle Jarnkrok in the Leafs lineup.
Projected lines:
Bobby McMann - Auston Matthews - Max Domi
Matthew Knies - John Tavares - Matias Maccelli
Easton Cowan - Nicolas Roy - Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - Scott Laughton - Calle Jarnkrok
Finding consistency throughout their lineup
The Maple Leafs’ third line will remain the same, as it has been one of the Maple Leafs most consistent lines throughout this recent stretch of good Maple Leafs hockey. Calle Jarnkrok has been a player who is rarely seen on the stat sheet, but won’t hurt the Maple Leafs by being on the ice, as he can play minutes on the penalty kill and does a great job of grinding out minutes against other teams’ bottom six.
The Maple Leafs will look to close out their road trip with a win in Winnipeg. Building momentum on what could be classified as a great road trip could be huge as the Leafs head into the second half of their season. The Maple Leafs will head following this game to faceoff against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.