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Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EST  |  Arena: Bell Centre  |  TV: CBC  |  Radio: Sportsnet 590


Game Day Quotes

Mike Babcock on what the team has done right in Auston Matthews’ absence:

We’ve given up shots but given up way fewer high quality scoring chances, especially early. Gives your goalie a chance to get into the game. Haven’t turned over the puck as much. In saying that though, we’ve got a long way to go. We’re not playing at the top of our game. We’d like to spend more time in the Ozone, break out more efficiently. You know we’d love to have [Matthews] back — we’d love to have everybody back — but that’s not the way the league works.

Babcock on if Soshnikov’s style of play allows him to be effective with little ice time:

Well I don’t buy any of that. If you get out there you’ve got a chance to impact the game, and if you impact the game, you get out there a little bit more and a little bit more. The bottom line is we’d like to have four lines that are all rolling and playing good; that’s what we’re trying to get to. That’s what we’re going to end up having.

Babcock on dump and chase vs. controlled entries at this point in the season:

Most teams aren’t letting you in their zone with controlled entries. In saying that – if you spend a lot of time in their zone playing, get them tired and they track out and you break out efficiently, you can probably carry the puck in way more. But if you don’t spend any time in the Ozone, then you’re going to be flipping it in because they’re on top of you and they’re in good spots. People like controlled entries. Everybody likes to have a lot of speed and have their sweater flappin’ and carry it through the zone, but I watch the games every night and there’s not a whole lot of that going on.

Babcock on what he likes about tight-checking hockey:

This is how you’re going to have to play in the end, so you might as well play like that. That’s where it’s going. When you’re a team and you’re not very good, you don’t get as many of those games because the opposition isn’t as prepared for you or worried about you. The better you get, the more nights you get that are real hockey. There’s a lot of real hockey right now.

James van Riemsdyk on his line’s recent success:

I think it’s just our hockey sense out there and the way we’re able to read off each other. Obviously, we’ve spent a lot of time together as a line. Little plays become second nature.

Canadiens head coach Claude Julien on his team’s situation entering the game:

We certainly want a winning record on this home stand. We certainly would’ve liked to have been in a better situation right now. Had we won the last game [against Arizona], we would’ve had an opportunity here to have a real good one. Still, it gives us an opportunity to find this home stand with a winning record and that’s important for us right now.


Matchup Stats

TORMTL
Record12-7-08-10-2
GF/g3.6 (4th)2.5 (28th)
GA/g3.15 (21st)3.4 (17th)
PP%22.7.4% (6th)
15.3% (26th)
PK%81.4% (14th)74.6% (28th)
Shots/g30.6 (19th)36.8 (1st)
Shots Against/g33.5 (25th)30.9 (9th)
5v5 CF%50.25% (13th)53.92% (3rd)
5v5 SV%.912 (24th).909 (26th)
5v5 SH%10.4% (1st)6.5% (28th)

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup

Forwards
Komarov – Kadri – Nylander
JVR – Marleau – Hyman
Brown – Bozak – Marner
Martin – Moore – Soshnikov

Defencemen
Rielly – Hainsey
Gardiner – Zaitsev
Borgman – Carrick

Goaltenders
Andersen
McElhinney

Game Time Decision: Matthews
Scratched
: Polak, Leivo


Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Forwards
Pacioretty – Danault – Shaw
Galchenyuk – Drouin – Byron
Hudon – Plekanec – Gallagher
Deslauriers – De La Rose – Froese

Defencemen
Benn – Weber
Alzner – Petry
Mete – Morrow

Goaltenders
Lindgren
Fucale

Injured: Price, Montoya, Hemsky, Lehkonen