Toronto Maple Leafs: Johnsson Back In Lineup VS Habs

Tonight, Andreas Johnsson will be back in the lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they battle the Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada Centre.

Johnsson was a scratch against the Buffalo Sabres, as Mike Babcock opted to go with Matt Martin on his fourth line.

Martin helped provide the Leafs with momentum against the Sabres, winning his fight with Nathan Beaulieu. Due to the injury which Leo Komarov suffered against Buffalo, Babcock realized that he had to put Johnsson back into the lineup.

This time, he chose to play Johnsson on the first line alongside fellow Swede, William Nylander and Zach Hyman, per a report from TSN’s Kristen Shilton.

In addition to Johnsson being placed back into the lineup, Babcock chose to put Dominic Moore back in the lineup.

Moore will play side-by-side with Tomas Plekanec and Kasperi Kapanen, and will be called upon to replace Komarov’s defensive skill-set. He’s also likely to be featured on the Leafs’ penalty-killing unit.

Toronto Maple Leafs’ Injuries

Although the Leafs are still without Nikita Zaitsev, Frederik Andersen, Komarov and Auston Matthews, there’s still some good news.

Zaitsev, Andersen and Matthews skated today, per a report from Shilton.

In the tweet from Shilton, she shared that Babcock mentioned that Matthews is close to re-joining the lineup. Matthews has been out since February 22nd, suffering from a shoulder injury in-game versus the New York Islanders.

If Matthews’ health continues to progress well, perhaps he’ll return on Tuesday night in Tampa or Thursday night in Nashville.

The Editor in Leaf team will keep you updated on the injury statuses of Matthews, Andersen, Zaitsev and Komarov.

Montreal Canadiens

The Toronto Maple Leafs face a struggling Canadiens team tonight.

The Habs have lost four out of their last five games while being quite banged up. Tonight, they’ll be without Carey Price, Max Pacioretty, Shea Weber, Victor Mete, Andrew Shaw, Phillip Danault and Ales Hemsky.

Instead, the Habs will be reliant on prospects such as Nikita Scherbak, Michael McCarron and Noah Juulsen to fill in the gaps.

Additionally, the Habs are a low scoring team that allows a ton of goals, evidenced by their 3.10 GA/GP and a 2.54 GF/GP.

Oddly enough, they have put up strong power-play numbers and take a ton of shots. Currently, they own a PP% of 21.1 and average 33.3 Shots/GP.

You have to figure though that without offensive stars like Pacioretty that those numbers are a bit unrealistic of the Habs’ current lineup.

Nevertheless, the Toronto Maple Leafs should look to stay out of the penalty box. This will reduce the number of scoring chances for the Habs.

Prediction & Notes

As long as the Leafs can keep the Habs out of their offensive zone, they should be able to secure a win. My prediction is that the Leafs will defeat the Habs by a score of 3-0.

Next: Where Do the Marlies Go From Here?

Puck drop will be at approximately 7:05 pm EST. The game can be found on NHL Network in the US and CBC in Canada.

stats from NHL.com