Toronto Maple Leafs Notes: Marincin In, Marchenko Out,

Mike Babcock will shake things up along the Toronto Maple Leafs’ blue line on Saturday night with Martin Marincin replacing Alexey Marchenko, while Bill Peters spoke highly of Auston Matthews.

The Toronto Maple Leafs begin their three game southern road trip on Saturday night when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, NC. With 10 games over the next 21 days, the young Leafs are about to experience their first taste of what it’s like to play grueling physical hockey on a night-to-night basis down the stretch.

With players like Tyler Bozak nursing an injury, and Auston Matthews pointless during his last four games, it will be interesting to see how the Leafs deal with adversity as the season winds down. Playoffs are without question the goal, but we’re about to learn a lot about this team and I’m sure management will use it as a great evaluation tool.

Changes on the Blue Line

Alexey Marchenko was stapled to the bench during the third period of Thursday’s game, sitting out the final 15 minutes, and Mike Babcock is going to sit the 25-year-old Russian for Saturday’s tilt.

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Marchenko out, Martin Marincin in.

Marincin has been out of the lineup for just over a month and his last game came against the Boston Bruins on February 4th. That game in Boston was a nightmare for Marincin. He took three penalties, was awful on the penalty kill and had trouble in his own zone, which has been a recurring issue for him this season.

The Leafs are clearly hoping those issues are behind him and that he will be able to step in and play next to Jake Gardiner.

Peters Praises Matthews

Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters hasn’t forgotten about how Matthews dominated Carolina the last time these two teams met when the 19-year-old rookie scored a highlight reel goal and fired five shots at the net.

Peters had nothing but praise for Matthews when asked about him on Saturday morning and he said he reminded him of Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon.

Next: Report: Leafs Expected to Sign Carl Grundstrom to ELC

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. and you can catch the game on CBC.