Maple Leafs scratch Nick Robertson ahead of Tampa Bay game

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A week of home games begins with a tweak of the Maple Leafs starting lineup.

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Before Toronto hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena, coach Craig Berube said he was pulling winger Nick Robertson and defenceman Philippe Myers for Calle Jarnkrok and Dakota Mermis, respectively. 

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Berube doesn’t like breaking up winning combinations, but when the club’s three-game streak ended in a shootout Saturday against the Canadiens, it highlighted three games without a point for Robertson and reduced ice time. 

Berube said Jarnkrok’s reactivation had much to do with his penalty-killing acumen against a strong Lightning power play that will have Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point back, and that Jarnkrok is effective in an even-strength checking role with old linemates Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz. 

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But the coach is concerned with how Robertson’s game “has dropped off,” leading to a chat between the two Monday morning.

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“Some of it is ice time, obviously,” Berube said of Robertson’s number hovering at or below 10 minutes. “He was playing in the top six and doing a good job (during last month’s injury crisis). You make changes, but I have all the confidence that he’ll get back. To me, he’s lost a little of his tenacity and jump.” 

To Robertson’s advantage, such breaks have usually seen him rebound well. 

For the change on the blueline, Berube said he has found similar benefits from moving Myers and Mermis in for each other after a few games to keep them hungry. Both have been getting more time with Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo on IR, while Marshall Rifai — who was in competition for a job at training camp before he needed wrist surgery — is nearing full health. 

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The Lightning had mixed news on its injury front Monday, moving goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to IR after a couple of games off, but green-lighting first-line forwards Kucherov and Point. Hence Berube wanting some penalty-kill insurance. 

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown goes the old saying and the Lightning have been hard hit by injuries since they took top spot in this year’s competitive Atlantic Division. Now they’ve lost three straight before Monday and the eight Atlantic teams rarely are this close this late in the season, with four points between the first seven teams.

The usual suspects — Florida, Boston, the Leafs and Bolts — have often separated from the pack by now.

“Super tight, the whole conference,” Tampa captain Victor Hedman said. “Teams are getting better, we knew that. They’re finding a a way and it’s going to be an interesting season for sure. We just have to keep winning our divisional games.” 

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Monday was to be a battle of Swedish goaltenders — Jonas Johansson for Tampa, Dennis Hildeby for the Leafs. And it was a homecoming for Pontus Holmberg, the industrious Scandanavian forward whom the Leafs didn’t extend a qualifying offer to after three seasons and 159 NHL games. 

Cooper’s eyes lit up when speaking of Holmberg, who is left wing on a line with Zemgus Girgensons and Yanni Gourde. 

“I love that kid. The strength on his skates and the puck, he protects it like you can’t take it from him. If you need to kill another team’s momentum, just put it on his stick,” the coach said.

Holmberg says he’s loving the weather in Florida as well as his new teammates. Cooper was asked if he has become more fluent in English this year and come out of his shell after keeping a low Leafs profile. 

“I shouldn’t say this,” Cooper said with a laugh. “But at the rookie party (Tampa had a larger than normal one with many newcomers) people always ask who the MVP was and he might’ve got some votes.

“First of all, he’s a Swede and who has ever met a bad Swede?” 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby 

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