Leafs Practice Notes: Marner misses practice due to birth of baby boy, Stolarz projected Game 1 starter

Stephanie Marner first posted the news that the couple was expecting their first child back in February on Instagram. Given that this comes a day before Marner’s birthday along with the fact that he led his team past the Ottawa Senators in the first round, it has no doubt been a birthday weekend he will never forget.

Nick Robertson filled in for the star winger on the top line alongside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, suggesting that Marner should still be good to play in Game 1. All of which is to say his reasoning for not participating in practice is more than justified. Congratulations to the Marner family!

Head coach Craig Berube slotted Max Domi down the middle of the third line with Pontus Holmberg moving to the right wing. This is likely to do with the fact that Domi has been the more effective of the two at taking draws.

Beyond that, the Leafs made no further changes and are sticking with the same lineup that clinched the series in Game 6 on Thursday. It means that Max Pacioretty will get another crack at it after scoring the series-winner late in the third period, where he was back to slotting on the wings alongside John Tavares and William Nylander. This also strongly suggests that Anthony Stolarz is the projected starter in Game 1, though it really should not come as a surprise as Berube tends to stick with one goalie unless he has no choice but to make a switch.

Here is how the lines looked at practice, courtesy of TSN’s Mark Masters:

Forwards

Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Nick Robertson*

Max Pacioretty-John Tavares-William Nylander

Bobby McMann-Max Domi-Pontus Holmberg

Steven Lorentz-Scott Laughton-Calle Jarnkrok

Defence

Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev

Morgan Rielly-Brandon Carlo

Simon Benoit-Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Goalies

Anthony Stolarz

Joseph Woll

Extras

David Kampf, Philippe Myers, Jani Hakanpaa, Dennis Hildeby

Absent

Mitch Marner