Goalies command Saturday spotlight
Price, Andersen in top form, writes Lance Hornby.
Expect a couple of masked men to hold the crowd hostage at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.
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 the Leafs are the only team to have scored 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 low-scoring Habs in the hunt. The veteran netminder is currently on his fifth streak of at least seven straight wins, matching Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque.
But where would the Leafs be without Andersen to bail out their defensive breakdowns?
Stats-wise, Andersen has better numbers thus far this season.
The Toronto goalie is tied for third in wins with 24, one ahead of Price, leads in save percentage (.924 versus .916), goals allowed (94 versus 101) and shots faced (1,215 versus 1,207).
Here are five things to watch for when Montreal (31-18-6) and Toronto (33-17-3) go head to head:
1. Surprising Habs keep rolling
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 well. If anyone can find ways to slow down centres Auston Matthews and John Tavares and 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.
4. Big stage for Domi
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 and Jesperi Kotkaniemi is on a four-game goal streak, counting a rare Montreal power-play goal against the Jets.
5. Loud crowd
In recent years, only one thing has interrupted the party aspect of the Leafs visiting Montreal on a Saturday — that would be 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 facing each other in the post-season. The Habs might even get home-ice advantage back.