Maple Leafs out to end long skid against rival Canadiens
LANCE HORNBY
TORONTO SUN
Here’s everything the Maple Leafs could want, Saturday night, national TV against their oldest rivals and the stands full of their ‘real’ fans.
“They paid their own dough to get here to see us,” Reggie Dunlop would snarl if Mike Babcock could bring the star back for a pregame dressing room address.
But this biggest regular-season stage for the Leafs, lining up against the Montreal Canadiens, is getting to be a pain in the home and away. When they arrive at the Bell Centre, the Leafs will be trying to end a streak of 14 consecutive losses to the Habs (0-10-4).
“Thanks for reminding me,” winger James van Riemsdyk said after Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils ended the Leafs undefeated start at three and put more emphasis on a win Saturday. “Hopefully, we can change that and have a good talk after.”
Van Riemsdyk had Toronto’s last winning goal against the Canadiens, a 5-3 victory in Toronto, back on Jan. 18, 2014. Tyler Bozak, one of only four Leafs still on the team with JVR, Nazem Kadri and Jake Gardiner, assisted on it along with Phil Kessel. Joffrey Lupul had the empty netter and Jonathan Bernier out-dueled Carey Price in goal.
Price didn’t seem to be traumatized by the event, since going on to strengthen his career record against Toronto to 23-13-1. That’s more wins for him versus all NHL clubs other than Boston (24) while making more saves against the Leafs (1,076) than against any team. It has helped Montreal maintain a comfortable lead in the century-old series (355285-88-8).
Jersey’s Cory Schneider is already in the Leafs collective head after making 47 saves on Wednesday, which makes facing Price all that more daunting.
“They’ll be ready for us and they have a great goaltender as well,” Kadri said. “We have to find a way to get that (extra) inch to put the puck in the back of the net instead of outside it,”
He was referring to all those posts the Leafs hit on Schneider that might have changed the outcome. Price holds a .924 save percentage against the Leafs, though the good news for Toronto is that he’s one of the few positives for the Canadiens. Their revamped lineup in the face of controversial player moves has produced one win in four games. But they’ll have had a four-day rest to get ready for Toronto and the noise their fans bring.
“That’s a fun building to play in,” Kadri agreed.
Because of a mandatory day off Thursday, the Leafs had a 24-hour respite from an intense video session and a harangue by Babcock. Not that the coach was going to whip them hard for one loss, but he was mighty peeved that they didn’t pay attention to pre-scout data on the Devils, who disrupted Toronto with their speed and spunk, then zapped them with a rare 5-on-3 short-handed goal.
“They skated us into the ground,” Babcock said Wednesday night. “But it’s over with now. We have lots of time to look at the game tape and get ready to face a hungry Montreal team.”
As defenceman Morgan Rielly pointed out, Saturday will be the Leafsfirstdivisionalgame.Takeaway last season’s fail against Montreal (0-3-1) and the Leafs gained 39 of a possible 52 points against the rest of the Atlantic, which sustained their playoff push.
“We have to take those games very seriously,” Rielly said.
Goaltender Frederik Andersen said the Leafs should learn from taking last year’s playoff orphan Devils too lightly on Wednesday and not get bogged down thinking about the Habs’ hex.