RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs. Capitals series covereage]
A likely change involves splitting left wing Alex Ovechkin and center Nicklas Backstrom, who played on the same line for most of the regular season.
Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock has sent center Nazem Kadri against Backstrom's line in the first two games of the series and expects to continue that matchup.
Ovechkin could be flipped to a line with center Evgeny Kuznetsov, potentially getting him away from Kadri, who has limited the Capitals' top line to one even-strength point through two games. Backstrom scored the game-tying goal in the third period of Game 2 at 5-on-5.
"[Babcock's] going to have the matchups in Toronto, so we'll see who they want against him," Trotz said. "I think [Babcock] will probably stay with the same game plan that he's tried to do here with Kadri on Backstrom. We may move things around, we may not. We're meeting now and going through a lot of the stuff from [Saturday]. We'll have a good game plan and the guys will be ready for tomorrow."
Kuznetsov improved his defensive game significantly throughout the regular season, and Trotz said he's been impressed by his work so far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Changes to defensive pairings seem less likely, since Trotz wants to see more out of his forward group specifically to get the better of the matchups.
"But [Kuznetsov] and his game, he's created quite a few opportunities for us," Trotz said. "I think he's skating extremely well. He's pushed their [defensemen] back a lot. He had a regroup last night, I think it was in the first overtime period, first two minutes he cut through their [defense] and almost finished it right there. I like the way he's really moving right now."
