Leafs, Habs collide with plenty on line
The Montreal Canadiens close out their seven-game road swing against the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday. Here are five things you should know about the game: 1. Reinforcements on the way
Brendan Gallagher is out at least eight weeks after surgery on his left hand and Paul Byron missed practice Friday with an upper-body injury. Nikita Scherbak is expected to make his NHL debut after being called up from the American Hockey League along with Sven Andrighetto. Alex Galchenyuk (sprained knee) and Andrei Markov
(groin) returned to practice Friday with no-contact jerseys. 2. Pacioretty, Radulov lead offence
Captain Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov are leading the Montreal offence. Pacioretty scored in overtime in Nashville and Dallas this week and has six game-winning goals this season. He leads Montreal with 18 goals and 33 points, while Radulov is the hottest Canadien of late with three goals and three assists during a five-game point streak. 3. Holding their own
This has been a successful trip for the Canadiens, who have earned
eight of a possible 12 points with a 3-1-2 record. They have gone to overtime in each of their last five games and have won three of those contests. On the season, Montreal is 4-5 in overtime and 1-1 in shootouts. 4. Matthews leads rookie parade
Auston Matthews earned a $212,500 bonus when he scored his 20th goal during the outdoor Centennial Classic. Heading into Friday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, Matthews, 19, had a seven-game points streak with six goals and five assists. The Leafs have eight rookies among their regulars and three of their top four scorers are rookies. Mitch Marner (10-1929)
and William Nylander (8-18-26) trail Matthews (20-14-34). 5. Good offence, no defence
The Leafs went into Friday’s game with points in nine of their last 10 games (6-1-3). Toronto is tied with Montreal for the fifth-best offence (3.03 goals per game), but the Leafs have allowed 2.81 goals a game to rank 20th in the NHL.