Maple Leafs Officially Make Surprising Late Lineup Twist Before Facing the Penguins

Nov 1, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Matias Maccelli (63) controls the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Photo credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a late lineup change before their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins involving one struggling forward.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to make it two in a row against the Pittsburgh Penguins although they face off against a team who is surprisingly riding an early season hot streak behind vintage performances from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Craig Berube Makes Big Change Ahead of Penguins Clash

However with the game only a few short minutes from kicking off, the Toronto Maple Leafs have decided to stick with what they had in practice with one interesting caveat:

Knies – Matthews – Robertson
Cowan – Tavares – Nylander
Joshua – Roy – McMann
Blais – Domi – Jarnkrok

Rielly – Carlo
Benoit – McCabe
Ekman-Larsson – Myers

It looks like Bobby McMann earns himself the another shot tonight, as he is going through a really tough stretch, having gone pointless in his last eight games and not showing the life and presence that Craig Berube wants.But it’s clear the team still trusts him, and decided to sit newcomer Matias Maccelli instead, opting to go a little bigger against the Penguins.

Maccelli has been decent so far this season, but has only five points through his first 12 games, and is just a casualty of yet another lineup shuffle.

It’s a bit unfortunate that we won’t get to see Laughton or Lorentz tonight, however with what we just saw with Chris Tanev‘s injury, it would be best not to rush anyone back too soon.Speaking of, Philippe Myers earns the nod in Tanev’s place, and will line up on the third pairing and hopefully give partner Oliver Ekman-Larsson a boost, being on the right-hand side of the ice.Anthony Stolarz gets the start again; his 10th start already this season as he looks to build on a solid performance against the Flyers on Saturday, and is really, really looking forward to the return of Joseph Woll, which may happen in the next couple of weeks.

For now though, the lineup changing is a good sign that Craig Berube is not going to be messing around when it comes to struggling players and the patience he had previously may not be as fruitful as it was last season.

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Maple Leafs Officially Make Surprising Late Lineup Twist Before Facing the Penguins

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