How Maple Leafs line up vs Lightning

The Toronto Maple Leafs face a first-round rematch with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Here's how the Leafs will line up in their first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Video Transcript

OMAR: So the team finally practiced, so I think we have an idea of what the lines are going to look like. Some of them are-- some of the decisions aren't surprising. Others are. We have-- the Bunting, Matthews, Marner line is back. That's great. We have O'Reilly with John Tavares on the wing and William Nylander. That's something that Sheldon Keefe's been really running with towards the end of the season. That's been great.

The David Kampf, Sam Lafferty, and Zach Aston-Reese line is back together. That didn't surprise me. I think some of these fans were surprised, but that didn't surprise me because they were really effective in that Boston game. Like, really effective, to the point where Keefe was starting periods with them on the ice.

And then you kind of have a third, fourth-ish line of Noel Achari and Kerfoot and Jarnkrok. That line I'm a little "eh" about. Like, Achari's he's been awesome and Jarnkrok is great defensively, has great speed, can finish if he's in those prime spots. Kerfoot-- I've had my gripes with Kerfoot because he gets grade-A chances, like he gets a chance every single game, but doesn't seem like he can bury it.

Now, the reason why I'm not fully against it is because Kerfoot has a knack of, like, going off in the playoffs, or at least producing in the playoffs. Maybe this could be a moment where he produces a little bit. And when it comes to the blue line, again, everything is kind of the same except Timothy Liljegren is out.

And I've been on record talking about how I think he should be in over Justin Holl, but Liljegren hasn't had the best track record after the deadline. The last set of games, he was a lot better, but Justin Holl is the better option right now. I mean, when you think of the penalty kill specifically and the weapons that Tampa have, that's Justin Holl's side and that's where Stamkos fires a lot of those one-timers.

And Justin Holl does a really good job of closing those gaps and really deterring those shots. So as it stands, Justin Holl is in. And of course, you have Ilya Samsonov in goal. Completely fine with that. I know a lot of people are talking about how, oh, he might give up the [INAUDIBLE] goal the last year, and we know that as a member of the capitals you have that tough turnover by trying to play the puck.

That has happened in Toronto, but I don't know. I don't think Ilya Samsonov has given us any reason to doubt him or any reason to worry about it. I think he's the best person for the job right now.