The Montreal Canadiens will play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. The Leafs will be without captain Auston Matthews.
On Friday, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that captain Auston Matthews would be placed on injured reserve and would not participate in Saturday's contest against the Montreal Canadiens.
Interestingly, since debuting on Oct. 12, 2016, Matthews has played 35 out of 37 regular season games against the Canadiens, missing only two contests in the past nine seasons.
As frequent opponents, it wouldn't surprise anyone to learn that the reigning Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner has 45 points against Montreal, the second-best total against any other club besides the Ottawa Senators (47 points).
The former 69-goal scorer tends to torch Canadiens goalies when they meet with a career-best 27 goals.
However, that's not the most interesting statistic involving Matthews and the Canadiens. When the Maple Leafs captain doesn't play against Montreal, his club is 2-0-0, outscoring Montreal 6-1 with a shutout.
Oct. 13, 2021 - Toronto wins 2-1
Goals by: Pierre Engvail, William Nylander
Mar. 17, 2018 - Toronto wins 4-0
Goals by: Willam Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Nazem Kadri, Andreas Johnsson
The Athletic says the Maple Leafs are 36-19-2 without Matthews in the lineup. In their first game without him this season, the club blanked the Boston Bruins 4-0 on Tuesday night.
The Canadiens arrive in Toronto riding a five-game losing streak. Moreover, the team has only won once on Saturday night since January.
An ordinary prime-time meeting with the Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada appears to be loaded with intrigue so early in the season.
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