Quillan centered Toronto's fourth line in practice on Friday, but will draw out of the lineup one day later.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are making one lineup change ahead of their game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Jacob Quillan, who centered Toronto's fourth line on Thursday in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, will come out of the lineup. Sammy Blais will draw into the Maple Leafs' lineup.
Through two games this season, Quillan has registered one shot while averaging 8:39 of ice time. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has liked the forward's speed, but chose to swap him for Blais because of his physicality.
"It's going to be a tough game. It's going to be a physical game, in my opinion, to a certain extent," Berube said on Saturday morning. "I just think that he can come in here and disrupt them a little bit with his physicality, and he does make good puck plays."
This'll be Blais' first game with the Maple Leafs since Tuesday's overtime win over the St. Louis Blues. The 29-year-old left the game early after taking a hit midway through the third period and spitting up blood on the bench.
"We did some scans and I’m all good," Blais said the morning after the game. "It was a scary situation."
Earlier in the game, he set up Steven Lorentz for Toronto's second goal of the game. It was the forward's second assist since joining the team via waivers after the Maple Leafs claimed him from the Canadiens. Blais has a goal and three points through seven games with Toronto.
It'll be the first game Blais plays against Montreal after they placed him on waivers on Oct. 5.
Toronto practiced on Friday afternoon with Blais on the outside looking in, while Quillan centered the team's fourth line, between Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli. It's unknown how the lines will change now with Blais coming into the lineup.
The Maple Leafs are facing a Canadiens team that's 3-4-3 in their last 10 games. A win for Toronto on Saturday night would put them in a tie with Montreal for sixth place in the Atlantic Division.
"You got to be aware of (Montreal's) skill for sure," Berube said.
"They're a highly skilled team over there, and obviously, (Lane) Hutson, he's a dynamic player. He's tough to handle. So we got to do a good job on him, and we got to do a good job on their skill. We got to be tight-checking. We got to be close to them, take away their speed, and take away their skill as best we can. They're a good team."
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