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Here are five things you should know about the Leafs-Canadiens game Wednesday night at the Bell Centre
(8 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN Radio-690, 98.5 FM).
The matchup: This is the seventh of 10 games between the teams, who will see each other four times over the next 11 days and even more should they meet in the opening-round of the North Division playoffs, something many fans are hoping for. The Canadiens are 2-3-1 against Toronto, but that includes a 4-2 victory the last time they met in Montreal. Tomas Tatar paced Montreal that night with a pair of goals, one into an empty net. All of the games have been close, with the largest margin of victory being two goals.
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On a night when all eyes were firmly planted on Cole Caufield making his NHL debut, it was a pair of veteran players who led the Canadiens to their biggest win this season.
“Obviously we haven’t had much success against them in the last two weeks,” said captain Shea Weber, who scored a power-play goal in the first period while Montreal enjoyed a two-man advantage in this critical 2-1 victory Monday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
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When you have an opponent down, you don’t want to give them a life. But that’s just what the Canadiens have done, providing the Calgary Flames with a glimmer of hope.
“We knew it was a big game tonight,” defenceman Joel Edmundson said following Montreal’s 4-2 loss to the Flames Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. “We have to win the next two.”
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The Flames trail the Canadiens by six points for the fourth, and final, playoff spot in the North Division, although Montreal still holds a game in hand. The teams meet again Saturday night in Calgary before concluding the three-game series on Monday at the same venue.
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It seemed like a risk at the time. A seven-year contract for a guy who scored one goal last season, was limited to 26 games and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
That seven-year, US$38.5-million contract the Canadiens signed with Josh Anderson last October might come back to haunt general manager Marc Bergevin or whomever succeeds him. But so far the big, physical winger has been a godsend for Montreal.
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The Canadiens, yet again, are mired in a slump. And yet no player seems willing to take responsibility. Not captain Shea Weber and not Jonathan Drouin.
Will that lack of accountability be a problem moving forward? Time ultimately will dictate that with the Canadiens in the midst of a five-game road trip that could determine whether they make the playoffs.
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Defenceman Weber, never one to talk about himself, continued that theme on Tuesday, although he has been guilty of more turnovers than usual of late while being held to one assist in nine games and no goals in 18.