GAME DAY | Canadiens – Leafs: Preview, Lines, Goalies, TV, Fantasy

• Peter Holland on the Leafs day off from practice on Friday:“Definitely, these days are earned, they don’t come without hard work, and obviously, (Babcock) sees a need for it. And we’ve had a few of them before, just kind of based on what he’s felt we needed as a group. So we want to make sure we take our best foot forward into tomorrow night’s game and come out flying.”
• Lars Eller: “We’re doing all the right things in practice, I think we are doing a lot of things well in games, too. We do create a lot of scoring chances. We create enough scoring chances every game to score three, sometimes four goals. If we score three or four, we’re going to come out on the winning side most of the time. But the puck hasn’t gone in the net lately for us.”
• Not only was Nathan Beaulieu injured on Tuesday night (lower-body), it was announced that Carey Price will remain out for another 3-4 weeks with a lower-body injury of his own.
• Since December 1, 2015 (at which point the Canadiens were atop of the conference in points), the Canadiens have an NHL worst 5-16-1 record. They currently find themselves outside of a playoff position.
• While the Canadiens have a 19-9-3 record versus teams in the Eastern Conference this season, the Leafs have a 6-12-7 record against teams from the East.
• So far this season, the Canadiens have a 10-4-1 record versus other teams in the Atlantic division (including Toronto), while Toronto has struggled mightily with a 0-5-5 record.
• The Canadiens have maintained in their placing for the goals against category, they are currently in 15th in the league in goals against, with 122 in 47 games. The Leafs have allowed 125 goals in 45 games and find themselves in 17th in the league.
• The Canadiens have dipped slightly in the standings in the goals for category as they are currently in 9th place in the NHL, with 129 over their first 47 games. Unsurprisingly, the Leafs are 27th in this category with 111 goals scored in 45 games.

• Even if he isn’t your favorite player, or you absolutely detest all Leafs’ players, one has to respect what James Reimer has done in Toronto this season. Coming out of the 2012-13 regular season, Reimer was a 25 year-old starting goaltender who was  gaining the trust of many Leafs fans. Unfortunately, a tough playoff series and the availability of a very good young backup goaltender out of LA, forced Reimer to deal with competition for the starting position. Fast forward 2 seasons and Reimer has regained his starting job, putting up stellar numbers while Jonathan Bernier has struggled so much he even landed in the minors for a short stint. A quick glance at his games played versus Jonathan Bernier’s will give the perception that they are sharing time in the crease, but Reimer has been plagued with injuries for parts of the season. The Leafs are 28th in the league right now, yet James Reimer has a league leading 0.937 SV% and is tied for third with a 1.98 GAA. Dwelling further into his SV% numbers, Reimer is also leading the league in Even Strength SV% with a 0.9551. The Canadiens have been in a major slump lately, but almost always manage to put together a good effort against the Leafs. Although Reimer is far from a guarantee to get the win tonight, he should put up a valiant effort and warrants a starting position on most rosters.
• Top scorers for the Leafs at home this season are:

1. James van Riemsdyk* (with 16 points in 18 games).
2. Leo Komarov (with 15 points in 21 games)
3. Tyler Bozak (with 14 points in 20 games)

• Top scorers for the Canadiens at home this season are:

1. Max Pacioretty (with 21 points in 24 games)
2. Tomas Plekanec and P. K. Subban (both with 18 points in 24 games)
3. Alex Galchenyuk and Andrei Markov (both with 16 points in 24 games)

* – Currently injured

Player stats from War-on-Ice, NHL.com and Yahoo Sports.