CANADIENS
Montreal

MAPLE LEAFS
Toronto

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Byron – Galchenyuk – Radulov
Hudon – Plekanec – Gallagher
Pacioretty – Desharnais – Shaw
Danault – Mitchell – Terry[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Emelin – Weber
Markov – Petry
Beaulieu – Hanley
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Montoya

Scratches

Daniel Carr, Greg Pateryn

Injured Reserve

Zach Redmond, Artturi Lehkonen, Brian Flynn

Game Report

To Habs fans who are used to relentlessly mocking the Toronto Maple Leafs for futility, you are getting an education this season. You won’t find these Leafs at the bottom of the NHL standings.

Watching the baby Leafs in action against the IceCaps, you see that the Marlies are built on speed, moving the puck with quick, accurate passing and are aggressive forecheckers. The NHL club plays the same way. With a solid core of good young talent, excellent coaching and a strong organization, the Leafs will be a force to reckoned with.

Toronto gave the Canadiens all they could handle on Saturday night. If not for the heroics of Carey Price… (well, you know how that goes.)

The supporting cast on this night would be Alexander Radulov and Shea Weber. Radulov immediately re-engerized the top line — Radulov assisted on both goals of his linemates, Paul Byron and Alex Galchenyuk. Shea Weber also picked up two assists in the game.

Tomas Plekanec was charged with the responsibility of shutting down the Tyler Bozak line and was effective. The David Desharnais line managed just one shot on goal for the entire trio.  Torrey Mitchell and linemates had a workman-like effort.

On the back end the top-4 had another excellent game. It’s the 5-6 pair that is a mess right now with both Nathan Beaulieu and Joel Hanley struggling tonight.

~~~

▲     Carey Price, Shea Weber, Alexander Radulov, Jeff Petry, Andrei Markov

▼     Nathan Beaulieu, Joel Hanley, Andrew Shaw, David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty

1.  Alexander Radulov  MTL
2.  Carey Price  MTL
3.  Shea Weber  MTL

• “He’s a guy who had another big game. What I appreciate about him is his passion. He just puts his hockey bag on his back and comes to play. He always has fun coming to the rink and it really shows.”
• “They have chemistry and a great work ethic. It’s nice to talk about chemistry, but it takes work ethic to make that happen. It’s exceptional to watch them play as a line.” 

Alexander Radulov

• “It’s tough to be away from all of this. I didn’t feel well and I wanted to get back as soon as possible. Obviously, I didn’t want to have that time off, but I was really sick.”
• “The whole team was playing good. Everybody brought an effort. We played as one group and we got the ‘W.’ That’s the most important thing.”

Alex Galchenyuk

• “[Alexander Radulov] definitely brings a lot to the team. He brought it tonight. The plays he makes at top-end speed are unique. He does it every game.”
• “It was definitely tough to not see him play, but he definitely helped a lot not just on the ice, but off the ice. He’s a big energizer. It was good to have him back. His playmaking skills, they’re great. I can’t really find a flaw. He’s been playing outstanding.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com