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Canadiens @ Maple Leafs: Better Late Than Never | HABS RECAP

Rick Stephens
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Canadiens @ Maple Leafs: Better Late Than Never | HABS RECAP
(Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs Game Recap: Habs Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game Interviews, NHL Three-Stars

FINAL | Game 15, Away Game 8 | Saturday February 13, 2021
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

CANADIENS

Montreal

2-1

MAPLE LEAFS

Toronto
(Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Jonathan Drouin – Nick Suzuki – Josh Anderson

Tyler Toffoli  – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia

Paul Byron – Jake Evans – Corey Perry

Defence pairings

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Victor Mete – Alexander Romanov

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Scratches

Tomas Tatar, Brett Kulak

Taxi Squad

Cam Hillis, Hayden Verbeek, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren

Injuries

Game Report

This was a game that the Canadiens had no business winning. For a little more than two periods, the Habs were a shell of themselves simply going through the motions ahead of their week with an empty schedule.

The Maple Leafs played a possession game spending long stretches of time in the Montreal zone. And on the rare occasion when the Canadiens exited their end, Toronto was content to shut off the middle of the ice. The Habs managed just 13 shots on goal in the first two periods of play.

Whatever message Claude Julien had intended to send to his players by scratching Tomas Tatar wasn’t received, or wasn’t well-received. It was an uninspired effort by his charges for the first 45 minutes of the game. Well, with one exception.

Carey Price stood on his head shutting down the potent Maple Leaf offence while his team slept-walked around him. Toronto’s most dangerous shooters, Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner combined for 60 percent of the Leafs’ shots on goal. 

And then with just over six minutes gone in the third period, with the Canadiens trailing by one, Brendan Gallagher made a play on the boards. Gallagher won a board battle that, up until that point in the game, the Habs had been outmatched. Tyler Toffoli finished the play scoring his team leading 10th goal.

It was Gallagher and Toffoli combing just over ten minutes later to put the Canadiens ahead for an unlikely win over the league’s top team. Price held his team in the game making one big stop after another and stealing another game this season. Price continues to lead the league in high-danger save percentage by a significant margin.

Up Next

It could have been a very difficult week for the Canadiens dwelling on a loss. Instead, they can focus on addressing the multiple issues plaguing the team. For their next game, the Habs will face the Maple Leafs one week from today at the Bell Centre.

Plus / Minus

▲ Carey Price, Brendan Gallagher, Tyler Toffoli

▼ Paul Byron, Jonathan Drouin, Nick Suzuki, Corey Perry, Phillip Danault

Game Preview

If you missed the game preview, you can find it here: Canadiens @ Maple Leafs: Getting Back on Track

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   MAPLE LEAFS
25 Shots 22
49 Face-off % 51
0-for-0 Power Play 0-for-1
2 Penalty Minutes 0
46 Hits 16
55 Corsi For 39
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (9-4-2) 0 0 2 – – 2
Maple Leafs (11-3-1) 1 0 0 – – 1
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Toffoli (10), Gallagher (6)
  • TOR: Marner (7)
  • MTL: Price (W) 5-2-2
  • TOR: Andersen (L) 9-3-1

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
NHL3stars
  1. Brendan Gallagher  MTL
  2. Tyler Toffoli  MTL
  3. Mitchell Marner  TOR

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Montreal Canadiens

Claude Julien

  • “We’re confident, but we’re also determined. Our determination allowed us to recover from a tough start. We did a lot of preparation for the game tonight. As the game went on, we started to see some of the good things we were doing at the beginning of the year. We’re hoping that we can build on this win. We’re facing the Maple Leafs next Saturday night and we have a big week to rest, prepare and make adjustments. We want to keep playing the way we did in the third period.”
  • “Let’s not kid ourselves, jf we come out of here with another loss, it would be four losses in the last five games and we have a whole week to sit on that. It’s a huge difference. This is one of those wins you need at this point in the schedule. But that doesn’t mean we can relax. We know we still have a lot of work to do and we’ll do that this week. But it gives us a much better mindset.”

Brendan Gallagher

  • “Our goaltender gave us the biggest opportunity to go out there and find a way to win that hockey game. We were able to come out and outplay them for 20 minutes and win a hockey game. That’s kind of what this League is. You have to take advantage of these opportunities when you get them. We’ve been on the other side where you outplay teams and let them hang around. You know how easy it is for them to regain momentum. There’s definitely some areas for us to improve and get better, even if we have to enjoy these wins when they come. But we know that we have to be sharper going forward.”
  • “But the biggest guy back there was Pricey. He gives you a chance to win every single game and you can circle this one. We don’t have a shot there in the third period if we don’t have him to really settle it down. That’s what he’s done his whole career. I’m pretty used to it, but you don’t take it for granted.”

Toronto Maple Leafs

Head coach Sheldon Keefe

  • “We didn’t make good on the chances that we earned in the first period. We had more than enough offense there in the first to blow the game wide open and didn’t capitalize or [it] didn’t go our way. Our game was a mess from there.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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