Game Day: Montreal Canadiens Visit Toronto Maple Leafs For Hockey Night In Canada
For the final time during regular season play, it will be an entertaining showdown of an original six rivalry as Hockey Night In Canada brings you the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
Taking a brief look back at Thursday night’s affair of which was held at the Bell Centre, the Habs were shutout 3–0 by the New York Islanders, ultimately blowing game number 1,000 for new head coach Claude Julien, who has changed the starting lineup ahead of tonight’s match.
Lets take a minute to go back a day in time. On Friday morning at 11am ET, the 56-year-old gathered his sqaud for a practice in Brossard, QC, looking to make a variety of switches with his lines on the ice.
To give you an idea just how different things looked with an attempt to fix this slumping organization, Julien’s new lines were as displayed below:
Pacioretty — Danault — Radulov
Lehkonen — Galchenyuk — Gallagher
Byron — Plekanec — Shaw
Andrighetto — Desharnais — Mitchell
Since Julien replaced Michel Therrien on February 14, the club has put together a weak record of 1–2–0, scoring only three goals over this span, and are desperately seeking a change in offense if they have any hope of remaining in first, not to mention postseason action.
It won’t be just Montreal seeing things differently in a matter of hours when the original six rivalry makes it’s last apperance of regulation in 2016–17. If you can recall February 15, Toronto made a visit to Worldwide Arena, where they faced off against the Columbus Blue Jackets. During second period action between the two sides, 19-year-old forward Mitchell Marner went crashing into the boards following a hit from opposing forward Boone Jenner, which has kept him out for the last four games as it has been labled an upper-body injury. With a historic battle coming up Saturday, head coach Mike Babcock was looking forward to his well-anticipated return, however, the National Hockey League has not yet cleared him from the injured reserve.
Marner did practice on Friday, and once again during Saturday’s morning skate on home ice, however, he only participated in a light workout while filling the role of extra defenceman and penalty killer as his injury is said to be to his right shoulder.
After the session, Babcock spoke to the media where he said, “He looks to me like he’s the best player out there today so I don’t know why he’s not dressed tonight.”
Toronto holds a 2–1–1 record without Marner, who was second on the team with 48 points going into Saturday’s contest.
It appears as if Tyler Bozak will also be out when the Maple Leafs face the Canadiens after missing both Friday and Saturday’s morning workouts with an undisclosed injury. At this time, it’s said to be a gametime decision, however, if he is indeed ruled out, Ben Smith will fill the gap, after having been a healthy scratch for the last two games.
The Maple Leafs have lost a total of 13 straight games to Montreal, however, that could very well change with many players yet to figure out what revisions need to be made to alter their game. After Saturday night’s match comes to an end, the Leafs will head onwards to California where they will begin a three-game road trip.
As far as the lineup adjustments in play go for the Canadiens, Julien has confirmed that David Desharnais, Sven Andrighetto alongside Nikita Nesterov will draw into the starting lineup, while Carey Price has been named the starting goaltender against opposing Swedish netminder Frederik Andersen for Toronto.
Desharnais has missed the team’s last six games as he was listed a healthy scratch, while the same goes for Andrighetto, who has missed the last four as a healthy sratch. Tonight, those tenures are over with a strong performance very much needed.
While speaking out about Thursday’s game which is the reason for his upcoming modifications, Julien said, “As far as our D’s were concerned, it was a tough night I think overall for everybody. Our D’s tonight had a tough time making that first pass. So whether we would have switched that, I’m not sure it would have made a big difference because I felt all of our guys were having the same issues.”
With the conversation continunig to make it’s round regarding a split up between Shea Weber and Alexei Emelin, Julien addressed the speculation after Friday’s session at the Bell Sports Complex where he said, “Nothing’s set in stone here. I can make changes and we’re three games in. You guys are asking me about making changes right away. I think it’s a matter of time here before I decide to make changes. Because you don’t stay with the status quo when you’re not winning hockey games. So there’s no doubt I have to think about making changes if things don’t work out.
While further elaborating on the situation, Julien said“I know Shea’s played with Marky (Andrei Markov) as a pair and stuff like that. Certainly something you could always go back to. Certainly an option here moving forward.”
Taking a look at his last seven games, Weber has a rating of -7, not to mention that he held a -17 rating after his first 15. As far as his statistics are concerned for the season as a whole, Weber currently stands with a plus-10 rating. in other rather impressive numbers, Weber has recorded fourteen goals, eleven of which have come on the power play, to go alongside thrity four points.
Previewing the division standings which have shockingly closed in on Montreal, the Leafs are only four points out while holding steady in third place. the Habs still lead the Atlantic with a season record of 32–21–8 record, meanwhile Toronto is not too far behind as they own a record of 28–20–12 and only hold one game in hand.
What has surprised many Canadian hockey fans is the fact of which the Ottawa Senators (32–21–6) are only two points back on the Canadiens, in second place with two games in hand, however, the Carolina Hurricanes did help out with Montreal’s ranking with a 3–0 win over the Senators on Thursday night.
Going into tonight’s match with the heads held high, Montreal sits fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, only four points ahead of the ninth-place Boston Bruins with eight teams making the playoffs. Last season it took 93 points to make the playoffs and the Canadiens need 21 points in their last 21 games to reach that mark.
Speaking after Friday’s practice, Julien was asked about the Leafs where he said, “They got a lot of first-round picks that were early picks, and it makes a big difference. Those teams obviously finished low for many years to be able to get those kind of players. Babs (coach Mike Babcock) has done a great job with them in bringing those kids along. There’s a lot of skill and there’s obviously a lot of speed in that lineup so we have to play smart. They can be energetic, but we have to use our experience to our advantage.”
With the NHL Trade Deadline just days away, general manager Marc Bergevin has been the talk of the league, as the Canadiens have been suspected to make the biggest acquisition, however, it has been rather slow and Wednesday’s 3pm ET deadline is quickly progressing.
Amongst those who have been said to be involved in trade conversation, Tomas Plekanec has been the talk of deals with Montreal, however, Bergevin isn’t exactly looking to move him at the moment, though he is currently on a twelve game goal slump.
Another name that has been very out there is AHL right wing Michael McCarron, who is wanted specifically by the Arizona Coyotes. In return, the Canadiens could acquire Martin Hanzal, who they have been scouting in recent weeks. Given Hanzal’s steady production, Arizona would only say yes to such a transaction if all were to be agreed to and done in their favour.
Kevin Shattenkirk of the St. Louis Blues has also been a huge name in trade conversation with several organizations, as Toronto, Edmonton alongside Tampa Bay join Montreal in vying for the 28-year old defensemen’s services.
When asked about the focus of each player who’s nerves may be interfering with their performance, Julien said, “There’s nothing I can do about it. I got to keep those guys focused on doing the job, which is tomorrow night against Toronto. They’re all pros … this is part of the game as a pro. You have to understand that it is part of the game and every team in the league has players that might be thinking the same way, so we’re no different. I have to focus on what’s in front of me. I can’t tiptoe around those situations because players don’t need that. So I’m going about my business as I would any other day.”
Tonight’s game will begin at 7:00pm ET as the Montreal Canadiens look to sweep the Maple Leafs in their final matchup of the regular season on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
This game can be seen on CITY, CBC and TVA Sports, meanwhile, it can be heard on both TSN Radio 1050 as well as TSN Radio 690.
