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Maple Leafs @ Canadiens: Habs Frustrate Leafs | RECAP

Rick Stephens

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

FINAL | Game 39, Home Game 19 | Monday April 12, 2021
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

CANADIENS

Montreal

4-2

MAPLE LEAFS

Toronto
(Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Jake Evans

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Paul Byron

Artturi Lehkonen – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Defence pairings

Brett Kulak – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Xavier Ouellet

Goaltenders

Jake Allen – Cayden Primeau

Scratches

Joel Armia 

Taxi Squad

Michael Frolik, Michael McNiven, Otto Leskinen

Injuries

Ben Chiarot (hand), Brendan Gallagher (hand), Carey Price (lower-body), Erik Gustafsson (COVID protocol), Jon Merrill (COVID protocol)

Game Report

The Achilles heel of the Canadiens this season has been their play in the defensive zone. Obviously the justified criticism goes well beyond the six defencemen in the lineup each night, but without a true top-pairing left defenceman and limited depth, the house of cards came crashing down with the injury to Ben Chiarot.

Predictably Jeff Petry’s strong offensive play regressed after the first month of the season, just as the team’s scoring dried up. But Petry’s slide went further, exacerbated by a bad decision made by an inexperienced head coach, causing his play to drop off a cliff.

Tonight, to fall in line with something everyone else knew except Dominique Ducharme, Petry was reunited with defensive partner Joel Edmundson, a player who better compliments Jeff’s offensive talents. The fix was immediately felt even as Petry continued to falter at times, but the pairings allowed the other two duos to excel both playing a strong game and stabilizing the Canadiens defence against a potent Maple Leafs lineup.

Shea Weber and Brett Kulak were the Canadiens best pair on the night with a Corsi For Percentage of 58.62 and 60.71 respectively. Alexander Romanov led the team in hits with seven and Joel Edmundson logged 26:46 in icetime.

The Canadiens got off to a great start, with hard work yielding a fortunate bounce and a rare power-play goal. But it was strong defensive play for a good portion of the game that allowed the team to limit Toronto’s chances. Jake Allen was the beneficiary facing just three high-danger scoring chances in the first and third periods combined. 

Up Next

The Canadiens will now prepare for a pair of games against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday and Friday nights. 

Plus

▲  Josh Anderson, Tomas Tatar, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Paul Byron, Shea Weber, Brett Kulak

Minus

▼  Jeff Petry, Corey Perry, Eric Staal, Tyler Toffoli

Game Preview

Check out the game preview here: Maple Leafs @ Canadiens: Steep Challenge

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   MAPLE LEAFS
25 Shots 25
49 Face-off % 51
1-for-2 Power Play 0-for-2
4 Penalty Minutes 4
32 Hits 33
43 Corsi For 42
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (18-12-9) 2 1 1 – – 4
Maple Leafs (28-11-3) 0 2 0 – – 2
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Tatar (9), Suzuki (8)-PPG, Anderson (15), Tatar (10)
  • TOR: Matthews (32), Tavares (13)
  • MTL: Allen (W) 6-6-4
  • TOR: Campbell (L) 11-1-0

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
  1. Josh Anderson  MTL
  2. Paul Byron  MTL
  3. Tomas Tatar  MTL

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Dominique Ducharme

  • “It’s a huge win. If we look at our game in Toronto, it was the exact opposite. We had an ordinary first period and a very good second period. Tonight, I really liked our first period and the way we managed the third. We expected a push from them in the second. They outplayed us in the period, but I really liked the way we came back in the third.”

Josh Anderson

  • “We’ve been right there every game that we’ve played them. Anytime you play the Leafs, you get up for these games. They’re always big games to play. I think we all had confidence going into tonight’s game. After losing three, we wanted to come out and play with full energy. I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight and set the pace of the game. They’re a really good team over there, but there’s going to be a lot of battles like this coming next.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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