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The Toronto Maple Leafs face the slumping Montreal Canadiens in a key Atlantic Division matchup at Air Canada Center on Saturday, but may be without two of their top forwards.
Injured winger Mitch Marner took part in the morning skate, but wore a black practice jersey and skated alongside defenseman Martin Marincin and has not been medically cleared for game action.
“It looks to me like (Marner is) the best player out there today, so I don’t why he’s not dressed tonight.” a perturbed Mike Babcock said Saturday morning.
Tyler Bozak missed practice on Friday and did not take to the ice on Saturday, as Ben Smith skated in his place between James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown.
Babcock indicated that Bozak will be a game-time decision.
The game is the final of four meetings between Toronto and the Canadiens, the first three resulting in Montreal wins (a pair of 2-1 decisions at Bell Center early in the season and a 5-3 victory at ACC on January 7).
Montreal, who once had what was thought to be an insurmountable lead in the Atlantic, are just two points ahead of the Ottawa Senators and four in front of the Leafs and Boston.
After going 1-5-1 in February, GM Marc Bergevin fired head coach Michel Therrien in favor of former Bruins bench boss Claude Julien, but the coaching change has yet to have the desired effect, as Montreal has gone 1-2 under Julien.
The Habs continue to struggle offensively and are not getting the normal excellent performance from goaltender Carey Price. Since the All-Star break, team captain Max Pacioretty leads Montreal forwards with seven goals and all the others have scored six.
Price is 2-6-0, with a .898 save percentage and 2.86 GAA in February, but has been lights out against Toronto this season, with a .953 save percentage and 1.67 GAA.
Frederik Andersen will make his third straight start for the Leafs.
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