Canadiens at Maple Leafs
The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs twice during their franchise-record, season-opening nine-game winning streak and sat 19 points ahead of their Original Six rival exactly one month into the season. A stunning spiral by the Canadiens has cut their cushion over the Maple Leafs to only eight points entering Saturday's matchup between the teams in Toronto.
Montreal's swoon continued with a 4-1 home loss to Boston on Tuesday, stretching its losing streak to five games (0-4-1) with its 17th defeat in 21 contests (4-16-1). "These guys are giving everything they have," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "Is the execution there? No, but that will come." While Montreal has scored only eight goals during its five-game skid, the Maple Leafs are in a deeper offensive rut. Toronto dropped to 1-5-1 in its last seven games following a 1-0 overtime loss to Carolina on Thursday and has tallied eight times during the stretch.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, CBC, TVA
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (23-20-4): Montreal's offensive funk is not due to lack of opportunities - the team has registered a total of 191 shots during the five-game slide. "We do create a lot of scoring chances," forward Lars Eller told the Montreal Gazette. "We create enough scoring chances every game to score three, sometimes four goals. If we score three or four, we're going to come out on the winning side most of the time. But the puck hasn't gone in the net lately for us." Defenseman Tom Gilbert practiced Friday for the first time since he was hurt on Dec. 22.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (17-20-8): Jonathan Bernier was in net for the two early-season losses to Montreal, but James Reimer is expected to get the nod Saturday after turning in a dazzling 40-save performance in Thursday's defeat. "He's battling through screens. Everything seems to be hitting him. Rebounds aren't coming off of him," forward Nazem Kadri told the Toronto Sun. "He's playing great and we feel confident in front of him." Leo Komarov leads the Maple Leafs in goals (16) and points (30) but has tallied only once in his last 13 games.
OVERTIME
1. Montreal looks to avoid matching its season-high six-game skid from Dec. 15-26.
2. Toronto has failed on all 19 power-play chances over its last six contests.
3. Canadiens G Mike Condon hopes to end a four-start winless drought (0-3-1) on Saturday.