"Matthews on the first line. Yuck!": Maple Leafs fans react as HC Craig Berube makes sudden changes to Toronto's lineup 

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators renew hostilities in the Battle of Ontario on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.

The bitter rivals have been going in different directions lately. Ottawa has been on fire and rapidly moving up the standings, while Toronto has been struggling and starting to fall behind in the race for the Atlantic Division title.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube appears to be taking matters into his own hands heading into Saturday night's game. According to Maple Leafs reporter Jonas Siegel, Berube is shaking up his forward lines in a big way.

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander will all be on separate lines, while David Kampf is poised to be a healthy scratch.

Fan reaction has started to pour in on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the new lineup.

"Matthews on the first line. Yuck!," one fan wrote.

"Why don’t they ever try Nylander and Matthews. Do they not like playing with each other?," another fan wrote.

"Finally the big 3 on separate lines. I like this balance and hope it gets an extended chance," added another fan.

More fan reaction has continued to come in.

"This is the best lineup all season. Now we just need Craig to not switch it up half way through the game," one fan wrote.

"So he put the best goal scorer on the team on the third line??" another fan wrote.

"About time. Needed a change," one fan wrote.

Maple Leaf fans appear to be happy with the tweaks Craig Berube made to the lineup in an effort to spread out the offense. It will be interesting to see how long of a leash the bench boss will give the new look lineup.

Maple Leafs have dropped four of their last five games

The Toronto Maple Leafs have hit a bit of a bump in the road.

They've lost four of their last five games, a 1-3-1 stretch that's seen the Florida Panthers surpass them in the standings. This has included blown leads to San Jose, Colorado and Florida, and a blowout loss in Vegas.

Florida (85 points) now holds a four-point lead over Toronto (81 points), although the Maple Leafs have one game in hand. Tampa Bay (79 points) is also just two points back as the third seed in the division.

A lot remains to be decided as the Leafs still have two remaining games against the Panthers and one more matchup with the Lightning in their final 17 games.

The Maple Leafs will look to get back on track on Saturday night when they host the Ottawa Senators on Hockey Night in Canada. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET at Scotiabank Arena.