Maple Leafs-Montreal Canadiens: Saturday game preview

AIR CANADA CENTRE

Puck drop: 7 p.m. TV: CBC Radio: Sportsnet 590 The Fan

Key matchup: Michel Therrien vs Mike Babcock. Therrien comes to town on the hot seat, his Canadiens having dropped from first place in the Atlantic to out of a playoff spot. He has a 148-84-27 record behind the Habs bench. Bab- cock’s job is secure, in the first year of an eight-year deal with a team that isn’t expected to be in the playoffs.

Need to know: Montreal has won both previous games against the Leafs this season, their first and last games of their nine-game winning streak . . . Defencemen P.K. Subban (25:55) and Andrei Markov (22:52) lead the Canadiens in average ice time . . . When the Habs got off to their 9-0 start this season, they outscored the opposition 35-12 and averaged 3.89 goals per game. In their last 21 games, they have averaged 1.86 goals per game while going 4-16-1 . . . The last time the Habs had a player finish the season in the top 10 in NHL scoring was in 1985-86.

Up next: Tuesday, Leafs at Panthers, 7 p.m. Kevin McGran