The Toronto Maple Leafs are making one lineup change ahead of their Saturday-night matchup against the New York Islanders.
Philippe Myers, who played a season-low 8:41 in Toronto’s 6-5 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, will come out of the lineup. Matt Benning will make his Maple Leafs debut.
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Benning, along with a couple of draft picks, was acquired by Toronto from the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 31, 2024, in exchange for Timothy Liljegren. The veteran defenseman, who has over 450 NHL games under his belt, has been with the Marlies ever since.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube opted for the change after Myers had been on the ice for three goals against the Jets. He also wants to see what Benning has, after the defenseman impressed him during training camp.
“He’s a competitor and has good experience in the NHL. He’s got close to 500 games in the league, so yeah, he’ll go in for Myers tonight,” said Berube on Saturday morning.
“He’s a first-pass guy. Like I said, the experience helps a lot, and he moves well and competes… I thought that he really pushed for a spot in training camp.”
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The 31-year-old has two goals and eight assists in 16 games with the Toronto Marlies this season.
“I think my confidence is still there,” Benning said on Saturday morning, when asked if he thought he’d ever get this opportunity with the Maple Leafs.
“Playing a lot of minutes (in the AHL) and that’s fun. Obviously, I want to be here, but can’t really look in terms of what ifs. I’ve been around here for a while, with this organization and the NHL. If you keep playing that game, it’s not good for you mentally, so for me, just one foot in front of the other.
“Work hard, be a good teammate.”
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With Benning entering the fold and Myers exiting the lineup, Berube played around with the defense pairings. Troy Stecher will play alongside Morgan Rielly; Jake McCabe will be paired with Oliver Ekman-Larsson; Simon Benoit will line up with Benning.
It’ll be interesting to see how Stecher plays alongside Rielly after having a big game against the Jets, which included a goal and a team-high 24:53 of ice time.
“I think (Stecher is) a good fit no matter what,” added Berube in Long Island.
“His game doesn’t change, what he’s going to do out there, and I think that’s important, that he can jump in there and play a different role almost, because his game’s not going to change. He’s simple, competes, skates, works, makes the first pass.
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“And with Morgan, he can do his thing and get up the ice. Stech likes to get going too, up the ice, so we can’t have both of them going up at the same time, so there’s got to be some communication there.”
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Joseph Woll is set to get his 15th start of the season despite being pulled against the Jets after allowing four goals on 17 shots. Dennis Hildeby came in for relief and stopped 22 of 23 shots for the rest of the game.
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Berube said in New York that the plan all along was for Woll to play against the Islanders.
The 27-year-old goaltender has an 8-4-1 record and a .916 save percentage with the Maple Leafs through 14 games this season.
