Andersen, Price in spotlight as Leafs and Habs battle
Expect a couple of masked men to hold the crowd hostage at the Bell Centre on Saturday.
Montreal’s Carey Price and Toronto’s Frederik Andersen will be the focus of attention when the Canadiens renew hostilities with the Maple Leafs.
Even with three consecutive losses to Toronto going back to last season — and given it’s the only team to have 100 goals against him — Price’s career mark against the Leafs is still a sharp 23-14-3 with a .920 save percentage.
He’s once more keeping the lowscoring Habs in the hunt and the veteran netminder is on his fifth streak of at least seven straight wins, matching Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque.
Here are 5 Things to Watch:
1. Les Canadiens Sont La: The Leafs have been making the big contract news, have all the marquee players and people are enamoured with their fancy stats. Yet all that only has them a point ahead of the surprising Canadiens, albeit with two games in hand. The Habs, 8-1-1 in their last 10, are embracing the old ‘we ain’t great, we just play great’ mantra and warmed up for this game by impressively beating the Jets.
2. Match Game: Rival coaches and Team Canada pals Mike Babcock and Claude Julien know each other very well. If anyone can find ways to slow down centres Auston Matthews and John Tavares, as well as offset Nazem Kadri’s checking, it’s Julien, who has last change at home.
3. The Muzzin Factor: Montreal is another club that’s credited with far more hits than the Leafs — around 600 as of this meeting. Jake Muzzin’s arrival has given the Leafs some teeth in their own end and his offence has been a bonus.
4. French Connection: Matthews has nine goals in eight games versus Montreal, notching two in the season opener, including the overtime winner. Toronto didn’t have William Nylander for that game. But expect Max Domi to shine on this stage after getting a couple of assists in his hometown back in his October debut for the Habs. Jesperi Kotkaniemi is on a four-game goal streak, getting a rare Montreal power play goal against the Jets.
5. Loud Crowd: In recent years, only one thing has interrupted the party aspect of Toronto visiting Montreal on a Saturday — the 2½ hours on the ice when one or both teams were struggling. Now both teams have a dog in the playoff fight and might wind up against each other. The Habs might even get home ice advantage back.