The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to rebound from an defensive inept effort on Long Island on Thursday as they face the archrival Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.
Toronto has won two of the three previous meetings with the Habs and trail them by two points in the Atlantic Division standings. With a Toronto regulation win, the two teams would have the exact same 33-22-7 records after 61 games.
Team Canada Olympic hero Carey Price will miss his third straight game, as he re-aggravated a lower body injury in a mid-week morning skate. Backup Peter Budaj, who made 28 saves in a 2-1 overtime loss to Detroit on Wednesday and allowed 5 goals on 32 shots in a Canadiens shootout win over Pittsburgh on Thursday, will get the start for Montreal.
Jonathan Bernier will get his eighth consecutive start for Toronto, after allowing five goals on 35 shots at Nassau Coliseum in his first game in nearly three weeks. Bernier’s miscommunication with rookie Morgan Rielly led to Michael Grabner’s second short-handed goal and he could not hold onto the puck on Anders Lee’s game tying goal late in regulation.
Asked if the Leafs could go deep in the playoffs without improving defensively Jonathan Bernier responded, "I personally don't think so..."
— Jonas Siegel (@jonasTSN1050) March 1, 2014On Friday, the Leafs demoted winger Carter Ashton to the Toronto Marlies, which would have put their roster at 23 players had center Dave Bolland been activated off of the long term injured reserve list. That appeared to be a distinct possibility, as Bolland skated with wingers Mason Raymond and Nikolai Kulemin at practice on Friday, but center Peter Holland was recalled from the Marlies prior to their Saturday afternoon tilt against the Hamilton Bulldogs.
After three straight games with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, Leafs coach Randy Carlyle may go back to the traditional 12 forwards and 6 defensemen against the Canadiens and insert enforcer Fraser McLaren as deterrence for Montreal tough guy George Parros.
The Leafs were definitely on the receiving end of the physical aspect of the game on Thursday, as Phil Kessel was laid out by Isles rookie pest Mike Halmo and Tim Gleason was forced to take on New York enforcer Eric Boulton.
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From now until Wednesday, anything regarding the Leafs from reputable sources that could indicate a possible trade will be posted on this blog.
From Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News, scouts listed watching the Stars-Tampa Bay game in Dallas today are from Toronto and St. Louis. Dallas is currently holding the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
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