The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to get their season back on track when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Maple Leafs have been inconsistent since they departed on their late-October Western road trip. In their first game back, Toronto dropped a 3-2 decision to the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday for their third loss in four.
“There’s no excuses,” said team captain Auston Matthews, who extended his point streak to five with a pair of assists. “It doesn’t matter with the schedule, the travel, the time change and all that. You have to come ready to play, regardless. You’re not going to have your legs every single night, but just try to find a way to compete and grind through.”
After an early show of fortitude, the team’s middle six forwards have begun to buckle in the ongoing absences of John Tavares and Kirill Marchenko (lower-body injuries). The Maple Leafs have been held below 30 shots in four straight games.
“We’re spending too much time in our own zone. When you spend a lot of time, you’re going to break down … (In) the third period, we didn’t spend too much time in our zone because we spent time in their zone,” head coach Jim Hiller said. “So they’re all connected. I think our best defense is to play in the offensive zone more, forecheck better, stay on the puck, hang onto pucks. So that’ll be our focus.”
The Maple Leafs will continue to count on their high-powered first line to win their minutes. Jack Roslovic enjoyed his first two-goal game of the campaign against Utah while sophomore Easton Cowan is on pace for a 67-point season.
Montreal is coming off a 5-4 overtime win over the Mammoth on Thursday. Nick Suzuki returned from a six-game injury hiatus with three points, and Cole Caufield netted the game-winner 30 seconds into overtime after Adam Engstrom knotted the game at 4-4 with five minutes and change remaining in regulation.
“I loved the players’ response in this game,” head coach Martin St. Louis said. “You start the game and you’re playing not too bad, but you’re losing 2-0. It was an excellent hockey game. That was two good teams. But I loved the way we played.”
The comeback win came on the back of Montreal surrendering the latest four-goal lead in NHL history two nights earlier in a now-infamous loss to Winnipeg. The Canadiens’ last three outings have all been decided by 5-4 scorelines.
“We carried on, we played a good game. It’s fun to see that after the disappointment of the last game. And, you know, sometimes things happen for a reason. I don’t know if we would have played as good a game (Thursday) if not for that disappointment Tuesday,” St. Louis said.
The Canadiens have won the last four encounters between the two archrivals, including their opening game of the season.
Tavares may return after having his injury status upgraded to day-to-day. Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault (lower-body injury) could also slot into the lineup after a monthlong absence. Mike Matheson (lower-body injury) and Ivan Demidov (ankle) remain sidelined.
