Puck drop: 7:00 p.m. EST | TV: Sportsnet | Radio: Sportsnet 590 | Location: Scotiabank Arena
The night we’ve all been waiting for is here — the Toronto Maple Leafs are set to face off against the Montreal Canadiens to kick-start the most anticipated Leafs season in decades.
The Leafs and Habs haven’t faced each other in a season opener in a couple of years now — the Leafs have started on the road in Ottawa and Winnipeg the past two years — making this much-anticipated home opener (the debut of John Tavares, on home ice, in a rivalry game) all the more special.
Toronto’s lineup has been pretty much set for a couple of weeks now, with Nylander’s camp looking like it might hold out and continue negotiation with the young RFA into the next week or so. There are a couple of players — Tyler Ennis and Josh Leivo most notably, and potentially Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen — that have an enhanced opportunity in Nylander’s absence. One presumably goes to the press box when he’s signed, and Babcock will likely make that decision based on performance and who is the best fit for a role on Nazem Kadri’s line.
Ennis, who found success in the preseason in the catbird’s seat beside Matthews, at his best is a shifty, fearless player who thrives in possession — making him the kind of player who could surprise early in the season when games are usually sloppy and driven by offense. Both Ennis and Leivo should get a role on the second powerplay unit, as well. Johnsson or Kapanen could get a look further up the lineup if the fit isn’t right with those other two. Considering their usage on the PK and play down the stretch and into the playoffs last season, those two are more of a lock to stay in the lineup than Leivo or Ennis, but this is a watch-and-see situation.
For the Habs, the final product may lack some top end talent — particularly as far as natural centers, and also with Shea Weber missing on defense — but they’ve got some quality top-nine talent among a reasonably balanced forward group. Claude Julien appears to be moving in the direction of youth, speed and skill up front and mobile puck-movers on the backend. Tomas Plekanec and Karl Alzner are both expected to be scratched for tonight’s game.
A surprise out of camp, third overall pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi will start with Jonathan Drouin. Early on, including in the preseason game against the Leafs, Kotkaniemi has looked like a confident and capable playmaking center, but it remains to be seen if he sticks after experiencing the rigors of the NHL game.
Another new addition, Max Domi — who has embraced the dual role as both a son of a former Leaf and a current Hab, making his role in the rivalry a unique one — will round out the Habs top nine. As Claude Julien said yesterday, they would have loved to see more of Domi coming into the season and better optimize his linemates and role. Without the suspension, it’s possible Domi would be in a different spot in the lineup, but nevertheless, he’ll start by centering a fairly skilled unit with Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen.
Three Things to Watch
1) How does Babcock sort out the matchups and ice time distribution up front? On home ice, Nazem Kadri has been a matchup guy in years past, but the addition of Tavares with Hyman and Marner flanking him gives Babcock another line he’ll trust in any situation. Babcock could just opt to roll his three-headed center monster over the boards without much worry. The Canadiens are running Tatar – Danault – Gallagher as their top line coming into the game, a unit Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey should see a fair amount of. The number of minutes each center receives, and how much ice the fourth line sees, will be interesting to monitor now that Babcock has three high-end centers at his disposal.
2) How do the Leafs look breaking the puck out? We didn’t get a ton of looks at their full lineup against other NHL lineups in preseason, but the Leafs look to be making a concerted effort to shorten up their breakouts with close support through the middle of the ice rather than leaning so heavily on long stretch passes and hard rims. This is an interesting storyline to watch all year — can the Leafs increase their number of controlled exits as part of an improved possession game overall? Along similar lines, are the Leafs able to sustain a forecheck and enough offensive-zone time? Early October games can turn into wide-open run-and-gun pond hockey tilts, and the Leafs are more than capable of winning games that way, but Babcock won’t be satisfied (ever, but especially if) the Leafs are not, as he likes to say, “playing the right way.”
While the Leafs won the game on the back of their scoring talent and power play prowess, the Habs took it to the Leafs in preseason at 5v5 because they didn’t spend enough time in the o-zone — first on more pucks, better structure through the neutral zone, and fewer giveaways on d-zone breakouts will be points of emphasis for the coaching staff.
3) Does the vaunted Leafs power play hit the ground running? The Montreal Canadiens were the second-worst penalty killing team in the league last season (74.1%) and were top ten in minor penalties taken. Carey Price’s shorthanded save percentage (.849) was bottom five among goalies who played 40 or more games last year. If it carries over to start the season — both the Habs’ form on the penalty kill and the Leafs form on the power play from last season and most recently, in preseason — the Leafs could be in for a feast.
Game Day Quotes
Babcock on the nerves of the home opener and excitement for the new season:
We’ve got to get through that first ten minutes like always and play like we possibly can. You learn a lot about your team in exhibition, but now, it really starts. You’re going to find out a lot over the next little while. We think we’re a good team and we’ve got to show it.
Babcock on what they team has seen from the Habs in preseason:
Yeah, they worked hard. We turned the puck over. The first half of the game, it was clear they were better than us. It’s interesting… everyone talks about teams, but our TV screens have our lineup and the other TV screen right below it has theirs — looks like two teams to me, so let’s get at her.
Babcock on how crucial playing well in front of Andersen will be this year:
It’s really important that we do our jobs so he can do his job. If you turn over the puck and you’re disorganized coming back, or you don’t commit to defence or you don’t work, your goalie’s going to be no good. You give him no chance to be successful. The bottom line is, we all know that, we know we’ve got to commit too. If you’re going to win in the end, you’ve got to be really good defensively.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#12 Patrick Marleau – #34 Auston Matthews – #63 Tyler Ennis
#11 Zach Hyman – #91 John Tavares – #16 Mitch Marner
#32 Josh Leivo – #43 Nazem Kadri – #28 Connor Brown
#18 Andreas Johnsson – #26 Par Lindholm – #24 Kasperi Kapanen
Defensemen
#44 Morgan Rielly – #2 Ron Hainsey
#51 Jake Gardiner – #22 Nikita Zaitsev
#23 Travis Dermott – #92 Igor Ozhighanov
Goaltenders
#31 Frederik Andersen
#40 Garret Sparks
Scratched: Frederik Gauthier, Martin Marincin, Justin Holl, William Nylander (unsigned RFA)
Montreal Canadiens Projected Lines
Forwards
#90 Tomas Tatar – #24 Phillip Danault – #11 Brendan Gallagher
#92 Jonathan Drouin – #15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi – #40 Joel Armia
#62 Artturi Lehkonen – #13 Max Domi – #41 Paul Byron
#43 Matthew Peca – #65 Andrew Shaw – #38 Charles Hudon
Defencemen
#53 Victor Mete – #26 Jeff Petry
#28 Mike Reilly – #58 Noah Juulsen
#8 Jordie Benn – #61 Xavier Oulette
Goaltenders
#31 Carey Price
#37 Antti Niemi
