Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Montreal Give Leafs Their First Loss?
The Toronto Maple Leafs are playing their second-half of their back-to-back tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.
Montreal is looking to give the Toronto Maple Leafs their first loss of the season, while also securing their first win.
The Leafs are coming off a somewhat decent performance in Columbus, where Cody Ceci scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf, Mitch Marner adding two more and Auston Matthews delivering a rocket of a shot to give the Leafs a 4-1 win.
Montreal is coming off a shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Carey Price is looking stop the likes of Matthews, who has three goals in two games.
It’s going to be hard to contain the Leafs since they currently have four players in the top-15 in terms of scoring in the NHL, while Montreal has none.
Michael Hutchinson is making his season debut for the Leafs. Last year, Hutchinson had a .910 save percentage in 23 games with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL.
It will be an interesting goalie matchup as both net-minders are looking for their first win of the season. Hutchinson will be trying to show head coach Mike Babcock that he can be a steady backup this season.
Carey Price on the other hand is trying to show the rest of the NHL that he can come back to Vezina trophy winner form like he was many years ago.
Does Montreal secure their first win, or does Toronto keep the streak alive?
While Montreal is trying to show the hockey world that they’re back and they can compete and grab a playoff spot, I don’t think they win this game.
Toronto has just been too good, with Marner and Tavares playing incredible and Matthews on the scoring streak that he is, it’s going to be hard to contain.
If the Canadiens want to win, they will have to rely on Carey Price and the defense to come up big. The Maple Leafs have a lot of fire power that they’re not afraid to use, and if Matthews can stay hot – it could be over early for Montreal.
After last nights game, Toronto may be tired and might not come out as hard as they usually do. The game against the Columbus Blue Jackets was a little scary on all accounts for Toronto, yet tonight, I think they’ll come out stronger than ever.
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If the Canadiens really want their first win of the season, they’ll look to contain the Toronto Maple Leafs star players, but I think there’s too many for Montreal to handle and I think the Leafs hand Montreal their second-straight loss of the season.