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Maple Leafs lineup notes: Jarnkrok and Mermis return, Jonas Johansson to start for Lightning
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Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Alex Hobson
Dec 8, 2025, 12:15 ESTUpdated: Dec 8, 2025, 12:10 EST
The Toronto Maple Leafs are tweaking their lineup as they look to get back into the win column against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
Following a 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, which effectively snapped the Leafs’ three-game winning streak, head coach Craig Berube announced that Calle Jarnkrok and Dakota Mermis would return to the lineup for Toronto. Nick Robertson will come out of the lineup for Jarnkrok and Philippe Myers will sit for Mermis.
As noted in the tweet above, Scott Laughton missed morning skate for maintenance and will be in the lineup for the Leafs. Laughton has scored in each of his last three games and has seemingly caught a new wave of confidence in his play lately, so this is good news for all parties, especially considering he’s already missed time due to injury twice this season. Matias Maccelli skated as a placeholder on the fourth line, and he appears to be trending towards a scratch for a fifth straight game. It’s been tough sledding for Maccelli, who struggled to find a consistent spot in the lineup at the start of the season and has slipped down the depth chart as the Leafs roster has gotten healthy. He has four goals and nine points in 22 games this season.
Robertson, meanwhile, will be a scratch for the first time since late October. It was his longest run without a healthy scratch in his tenure as a Leaf, but with one goal in his last nine games, he will ride the pine in an effort to give him a reset. He has a tendency to score when he returns to the lineup after a healthy scratch, so keep an eye on him when he returns.
On the Lightning side of the ice, goaltender Jonas Johansson will start for Tampa Bay after it was announced that the team placed star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on the injured reserve. Johansson has a 5-4-0 record on the season with a 2.85 goals-against average (GAA) and a save percentage (SV%) of .896.
Tonight’s game will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime and puckdrop is scheduled for 7:30 pm EST.

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