The Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing down a few players on Sunday night.
Morgan Rielly is out with a lower-body injury and Chris Tanev is out for planned maintenance, head coach Jim Hiller shared on Sunday ahead of Toronto's game against the New Jersey Devils.
Defenceman Dakota Mermis and forward Cole McWard will step into the lineup to take their places.
Rielly exited Saturday's game against the Montreal Canadiens in the second period with a lower-body injury and was ruled out by the team. The 32-year-old has appeared in all 18 games this season, with 12 assists while averaging 19:31 on ice.
After sustaining an upper-body injury in October, the team is being careful with Tanev. Hiller told reporters on Sunday that this could become the norm for the defenceman on back-to-back nights. The 36-year-old has one assist over nine games so far this season while averaging 17:45 minutes of ice time.
McWard, 25, has spent some time up with the big club this season but has yet to see game action. In seven contests with the Toronto Marlies, he has four assists and is a plus-three.
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