Maple Leafs lineup notes: Jarnkrok and Mermis return, Jonas Johansson starts for Lightning

Following a 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday that effectively ended the Leafs’ three-game winning streak, head coach Craig Berube announced that Calle Jarnkrok and Dakota Mermis would return to the lineup for Toronto. Nick Robertson will come out of the line-up for Jarnkrok and Philippe Myers will take his place for Mermis.

As noted in the tweet above, Scott Laughton missed the morning skate for maintenance and will be in the lineup for the Leafs. Laughton has scored in each of his last three games and seems to have gained a new wave of confidence in his game of late, so this is good news for all parties, especially considering he has already missed time twice this season due to injury. Matias Maccelli skated as a placeholder on the fourth line and appears to be heading towards a scratch for the fifth game in a row. It’s been tough sledding for Maccelli, who struggled to find a consistent spot in the lineup early in the season and has moved down as the Leafs roster has gotten healthy. He has four goals and nine points in 22 games this season.

Robertson, meanwhile, will be scratched for the first time since late October. It was his longest run without a healthy scratch in his tenure as a Leaf, but with one goal in his last nine games he will ride the pine tree in an attempt to give him a reset. He tends to score when he returns to the lineup from a healthy scratch, so keep an eye on him when he returns.

On the Lightning side of the ice, goaltender Jonas Johansson will start for Tampa Bay after it was announced that the team placed star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on injured reserve. Johansson has a 5-4-0 record this season with a 2.85 goals against average (GAA) and a save percentage (SV%) of .896.

Tonight’s game will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime and puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST.

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