Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are being split up for the first time this season.

Marner skated alongside John Tavares and Tyler Bertuzzi at Monday’s practice while William Nylander moved up to the top line with Matthews and Matthew Knies.

“There has been great reluctance on my part to make a change to the Tavares group,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “With Willy, in particular, he has really found a nice groove. His game has been going so well. You are reluctant to make a change to him and his situation. You don’t want to affect guys who were rolling and feeling good in order to boost other groups. But I think the time is right.”

The Leafs squandered a 3-1 lead before falling in overtime to the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. One night later in Pittsburgh, Toronto blew leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and dropped a 3-2 decision to a Penguins team that had lost four of five.

“Sometimes a little change can help everybody,” Matthews said. “The way the weekend went mixing things up isn’t the worst thing.”

“It’s just trying to jumpstart something,” Marner said. “Hopefully it works.”

Matthews has not scored a 5-on-5 goal in the last seven games. Marner has been held off the scoresheet in five of the last seven games. But Toronto’s top line has been inconsistent all season.

“I don’t think it’s the last five or seven games,” stressed Keefe. “It’s been up and down.”

“Too many highs and lows,” agreed Matthews. “Just the consistency of putting together shift after shift hasn’t been there as much as we wanted.”

Keefe has been pushing and prodding Matthews and Marner throughout this rollercoaster run. He even called out the top line behind closed doors following a lacklustre performance against the Detroit Red Wings in Stockholm on Nov. 17.

“It is more so just challenging Auston and Mitch to sort it out and be better,” Keefe said of his previous approach.

The group responded well on Nov. 19 during a win over the Minnesota Wild. But then they started slowly in Chicago, which led to another call out from Keefe.

“They have had really big nights and they have had other nights where they haven’t been effective at all,” Keefe said. “You are just trying to find more consistency there.”

Matthews has three hat tricks this season while Marner posted a pair of four-point games earlier this month. And yet the pair have been unable to sustain momentum.

“If I knew the exact answer we’d, you know, fix it,” Matthews said with a smile after Saturday’s loss.

Nylander’s 17-game point streak came to an end in Chicago and he was also held off the board in Pittsburgh, which opened the door to a top-six tinker.

“Since coming back from Sweden, I don’t think it has gone as well for him,” Keefe said. “You get back from the road and maybe things start to wind down a little bit in terms of the high that Willy was on. You can kind of reset some things.”

This isn’t exactly a new situation. Keefe also split up Matthews and Marner last November, which led to a strong run of form.

“Getting different looks is always good,” said Nylander. “We’ve all played together before so I don’t think it will be anything weird.”

The Leafs outscored the opposition 38-14 with Matthews and Nylander together last season, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

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Marner wasn’t available to reporters after Saturday’s loss in Pittsburgh, but did meet the media on Monday and addressed the state of his game.

“Obviously not as great as it usually is and as I like it,” the 26-year-old admitted. “Gotta make sure I’m staying patient out there and

not trying to force anything and do what I do best. That’s bring high energy, bring good pace out there, and when the puck gets into my

hands trust my abilities to do things with it.”

The Leafs have been outscored 15-14 with Marner, a Selke Trophy nominee last season, on the ice in 5-on-5 play. The Leafs were plus-

25 in that situation last season.

“He knows he needs to be better,” said Keefe. “We are going to help him through it. We have been talking with him and meeting with

him. We have been working on some things on the ice that I think he has to focus on and can help him start to be the Mitch Marner

that we know.”

Specifically, pace of play is important.

“Just not getting the puck with a whole lot of speed with myself moving,” Marner said of his biggest issue. “And not really trusting my

abilities out there, so that’s something that needs to change. Just have to trust it.”

Marner has 20 points through 19 games, which puts him on pace for 86. He posted a career-best 99 points last season.

“He went through stretches like this last season, too, especially in the early going,” Keefe reminded. “It turned out that he had an

incredible season for us. I don’t expect it will be any different for him.”

Marner had 22 points through 19 games last season.

“I’ve been in these spots before multiple times in my career,” Marner said. “So, for me, it’s making sure I’m relaxed, calm and steady

out there, and just doing what I love.”

How does he manage frustration?

“Breathing, relaxing, realizing that it will come,” he said. “If you force stuff that’s when you get more frustrated, more mad, so just got

to trust your instincts, trust your game and you know.”