A losing record and a frustrating Saturday night appears to have resulted in a shakeup of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ top six.
Friends and roommates Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel were split up at practice Monday, and winger David Clarkson was promoted to the team’s top six for rushes.
Clarkson, who had been skating on Toronto’s third line, played with centre Bozak and winger James van Riemsdyk Monday at the Leafs’ practice facility, while sniper Kessel joined Joffrey Lupul on the line centred by Nazem Kadri.
“I’ve played with them in the past, so hopefully we can generate some chemistry,” Kadri told reporters. “It’s a clean slate. It kinda refreshes the group a little bit, seeing if different combinations work.”
Mike Santorelli centred Leo Komarov and Daniel Winnik on the club’s third line.
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“Frustration, anger. Those were the two things that were probably front and centre from the coaching staff’s perspective,” head coach Randy Carlyle told reporters after Saturday’s 4-1 home loss to the Boston Bruins. “For the first 30 minutes, we didn’t move our feet, didn’t execute at a level we were capable of.”
After the Leafs’ fourth home loss Saturday, Kadri told reporters that the team needed to care more.
The regular top line of Kessel, Bozak and van Riemsdyk leads the team’s offence handily with a combined 21 points. Kadri has just two points and Lupul three, the same tally as Clarkson.
Toronto (3-4-1) sits in seventh place in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs host the Atlantic’s eighth-place team, Buffalo, Tuesday at Air Canada Centre.
“We’re not playing our best, so obviously they’re going to change things up,” Bozak said. “We gotta try and spark something here and get back in the win column.”
