The Montreal Canadiens will wrap up their season series with the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight when they play their fourth duel, here's what you need to know ahead of the game.
After coming back from their West Coast trip with three points out of a possible six, the Montreal Canadiens will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre tonight. The two sides are on diametrically opposing courses this season. The Habs’ rebuild has entered another phase, while the Leafs have plummeted in the standings since saying goodbye to Mitch Marner. Toronto is now second-to-last in the Eastern Conference standings and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. They come to town on a seven-game losing streak, although two of those losses came in the shootout.
Meanwhile, Montreal remains in the first wildcard spot, trailing the Detroit Red Wings by 1 point, and has 2 games in hand. Since the Wings are also in action tonight, they’ll still have those two games tomorrow. Tonight’s tilt will be the final of four meetings between the two sides this season; the Habs have won the last two duels, while the Leafs claimed the win in the season opener. Still, Toronto has the edge in the last 10 duels, having won seven of the last 10.
Martin St-Louis has already confirmed that Jakub Dobes would be in the net, which is hardly surprising given his performance against the Los Angeles Kings. However, since the Canadiens have two back-to-back series this week, we should see Samuel Montembeault as well. The Czech netminder has a 2-0-1 record against Toronto with a 1.31 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage. He was on duty for the Sainte-Flanelle’s two wins against the visitors this season. Meanwhile, Montembeault has a 3-7-0 record against the old enemy with a 3.80 GAA and .891 SV.
As for Craig Berube, he has yet to say who’ll be manning the Leafs’ net. Joseph Woll has a 3-1-0 record against Montreal with a 2.54 GAA and a .919 SV, while Anthony Stolarz has a 5-2-0 record with a 2.27 GAA and a .920 SV. Needless to say, the Leafs’ masked men know how to step up their game for rivalry nights.
Up front, Brendan Gallagher remains the points leader against Toronto with 24 points in 50 tilts, but captain Nick Suzuki is catching up; he now has 23 points in just 31 games. Josh Anderson wraps up the top three with 19 points in 40 games, just one point ahead of Mike Matheson, who has 18 in 32 meetings. It’s worth noting that Ivan Demidov has three points in as many games against the Leafs; the rookie has only two points in his five games since the Olympic break and could use a boost. Both Suzuki and Jake Evans are currently on a four-game point streak, while Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson are riding a three-game point streak.
At practice yesterday, Joe Veleno was skating on the second line, filling in for Oliver Kapanen, who had a treatment day, but he's not expected to miss the game. As for Alexandre Texier, he was alternating with Kirby Dach on the third line. Could he soon be back in the lineup? The coach said they would try to integrate him, but didn't give any timeline.
For the visitors, John Tavares has the most points against the Habs with 54 points in 62 games, followed by Auston Matthews, who has 47 points in just 39 games, but William Nylander, who wraps up the top three, is almost a point-per-game player against the CH with 37 points in 39 games. Speaking of Nylander, he’s currently on a five-game point streak, just like Matias Maccelli, who has seven points in nine meetings with the Habs. Matthews has not scored in 11 games, and the Leafs are making some changes, taking Nylander off the top line and putting Matthew Knies back with Matthews in the hope of jump-starting his offense.
Mitch Dunning and Tom Chmielewski will be officiating, while Bevan Mills and Jonny Murray will be the linemen. The game is set for 7:00 PM, and you can catch it on RDS, SNE, SNO, and SNP. After the tilt, the Canadiens will make their way to the nation’s capital, where they will take on the Ottawa Senators at 7:30 PM on Wednesday.
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