Game preview and how to watch
Game 27: Montreal Canadiens @ Toronto Maple Leafs
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet E/O/P (English), TVA Sports (French)
Streaming: ESPN+, CBC Gem, Sportsnet+
The Montreal Canadiens took arguably their easiest two points of the season when they played the Toronto Maple Leafs two weeks ago. There were some real concerns about how Jakub Dobeš would fare while he was in a sympathetic slump with Samuel Montembeault at the time, but the Leafs mustered very little to truly test the rookie netminder. Montreal blasted its way through the stalwart defence of Joseph Woll at the opposite end, and came away with a 5-2 win to snap their five-game losing streak and worsening Toronto’s run of form to 1-5-2 over an eight-game span.
The Leafs won their next game, but scored a total of four goals in the two outings that followed the loss in Montreal. It appears that sitting on a 10-11-3 record on the morning of November 29 was finally enough to drive home the message that Craig Berube had been sending to anyone who would listen that the team wasn’t playing nearly well enough to deserve a better fate. That night they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-2, and went on to win the final three games of the six-game journey that had begun in Montreal.
The Maple Leafs return home a very different team than the one that left. It’s suddenly a group that is piling up goals — 16 during this three-game winning streak — and looking more like the offensive force they have been throughout the Auston Matthews era. A win won’t be handed to Montreal on a platinum platter this time around.
Tale of the Tape
| Canadiens | Statistics | Maple Leafs |
|---|---|---|
| 14-9-3 | Record | 13-12-0 |
| 47.9% (24th) | Expected-goal share | 49.2% (19th) |
| 3.31 (6th) | Goals per game | 3.48 (3rd) |
| 3.54 (31st) | Goals against per game | 3.37 (25th) |
| 26.4% (4th) | PP% | 14.7% (28th) |
| 77.4% (25th) | PK% | 81.8% (13th) |
| 1-1-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 1-1-0 |
| Cole Caufield (14) | Most goals | John Tavares (13) |
| Nick Suzuki (23) | Most assists | William Nylander (21) |
| Nick Suzuki (31) | Most points | William Nylander (32) |
Matthews being back in the lineup certainly helps in the offensive department. He’s on a four-game point streak after returning to the lineup right after the game in Montreal. But this recent run has been more the work of Toronto’s third line, which scored six of the 16 goals over this run. Bobby McMann paced the team with three goals and three assists, and Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua both scored as well.
Perhaps thanks to Toronto’s low-effort performance while they were in Montreal, Dobeš has also regained his confidence. Not even a 7-2 loss in Colorado could upend him, playing one of his steadiest games of the year to beat the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday. He didn’t just hold one of the league’s most dangerous lines to two goals, but went perfect in the shootout (with some help from his post) to earn the Habs their first win in the penalty-shot competition this season. He personally has won three of his last four games, and has snatched the starting role that Martin St-Louis was too reluctant to pass to him. Tonight’s game is the more meaningful — and difficult — of the two on this weekend’s back-to-back, with the St Louis Blues in Montreal on Sunday, requiring the goalie you trust the most in the net.
You can’t expect him to stop every shot, so Montreal’s own offence needs to get back in gear. They had scored four or more in four straight games with the win in Las Vegas, but haven’t netted more than two in regulation in three games since. Wednesday night was encouraging in that area as they should have probably scored triple that amount if not for a superhuman performance from Eric Comrie, denying high-quality chances from each of the four lines and especially the top two. If each team plays this game as well as its last one, it should be a game that excites even the fans in attendance at Scotiabank Arena.
