Benoit returns to lineup as Maple Leafs face Flyers for final time this season

With forwards Mitch Marner (high-ankle sprain) and Calle Jarnkrok (LTIR hand) sidelined with injuries for the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin will join them and miss tonight’s game with an illness. For the second time in less than a week, the Maple Leafs will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers as they look to sweep the season series against the surprising Metropolitan team.

With Lyubushkin absent from the lineup tonight, Simon Benoit, a healthy scratch for three consecutive games following the trade deadline, is set to rejoin the Toronto lineup alongside his partner Jake McCabe. Despite a rough preseason with his new team, including a game where he took three minor penalties, Simon Benoit has been a mainstay on the Maple Leafs’ blue line since November 6th. But with two new additions to the blue line ahead of the trade deadline – Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson – playing time has not been guaranteed for the Laval native.

His first healthy scratch came against his hometown team, the Montreal Canadiens, a day after the trade deadline. It left a chunk of the fan base confused about the decision, given he has been playing well alongside McCabe. But with the lack of right-handed defencemen on the back end and the addition of Edmundson days prior, Benoit was the odd man out for Toronto despite him arguably being the better option than TJ Brodie and Timothy Liljegren.

However, the time to re-enter the lineup is now. With Lyubushkin ill, Benoit is the next man up and will slot right back on the second pair with McCabe for tonight’s tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers.

With Benoit returning to the lineup, Brodie will shift to the right side to play alongside Morgan Rielly again. The third pair will still consist of Edmundson and Liljegren. Other than those minor changes, no other changes are expected for Toronto. The forward lines will remain the same as in their last game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Pregame details:

Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup:

Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – Pontus Holmberg

Bobby McMann – Max Domi – William Nylander

Matthew Knies – John Tavares – Nick Robertson

Connor Dewar – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves

Morgan Rielly – TJ Brodie

Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe

Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren

Philadelphia Flyers’ lineup:

Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Travis Konecny

Joel Farabee – Scott Laughton – Bobby Brink

Tyson Foerster – Ryan Poehling – Garnet Hathaway

Nicolas Deslauriers – Noah Cates – Olle Lycksell

Cam York – Travis Sanheim

Marc Staal – Ronnie Attard

Egor Zamula – Erik Johnson

One lineup note: Big news out of Philadelphia earlier today. Their entire fourth line has been healthy scratched for tonight’s game (Denis Gurianov, Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson), inserting a new fourth line against Toronto. Philadelphia named Couturier captain roughly a month ago, and now he has been healthy scratched.’

Projected goalies:

Ilya Samsonov (TOR) vs Samuel Ersson (PHI)

Although no goalie has been confirmed for tonight’s game, Ilya Samsonov was doing his starters routine at morning skate today, according to David Alter, signalling he’ll be in the cage tonight for a fourth consecutive game.