(Sports Network) - Another chapter in one of the fiercest rivalries in professional sports will be played out tonight in Quebec, as the Montreal Canadiens host the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Northeast Division clash at Bell Centre.
Montreal has won the first two meetings of the year between the clubs, but both contests went past regulation. The Canadiens posted a 4-3 overtime win in Toronto on October 1 and then won 5-4 in a shootout at home on October 31.
The Canadiens have won three straight and six of the last nine meetings in the series overall and Toronto has been defeated seven times in its previous 11 trips to Montreal.
Montreal has lost two straight and tonight the Habs are in danger of dropping three in a row for the first time since a season-worst five-game slide from October 6-17.
The Canadiens did record a point their last time out as they were on the wrong end of a shootout decision Saturday against visiting Washington. Nicklas Backstrom scored the lone goal in the final segment to give the Capitals a 4-3 victory at Bell Centre.
After each of the first five attempts were thwarted by the goaltenders, Backstrom calmly reached back and snapped off a quick shot over Carey Price's blocker to end the game.
Jaroslav Spacek had a goal and an assist with Travis Moen and Tomas Plekanec also picking up scores for the Canadiens. Price had 20 saves.
The Canadiens led the game for most of the third period, but Washington's Eric Fehr tallied with 11.4 second left in regulation to send the game to OT.
"It's frustrating. We had the lead with one minute left -- you want to play tough, you don't want to play stupid. We have to be better in the final minutes. We can't do it backing up," said Montreal defenseman Roman Hamrlik.
Habs forward Scott Gomez missed a fourth straight game due to a groin injury and is questionable tonight. Winger Andrei Kostitsyn has sat out the last two games for Montreal with a foot issue and is also questionable.
Montreal is 7-5-2 as the host this year and has dropped two of its last three on home ice.
The Maple Leafs had won two straight and three out of four heading into Monday's home test against Buffalo, but were shut out 3-0 by Ryan Miller and the Northeast-leading Sabres. Miller turned aside 38 Toronto shots to post his third shutout of the season.
Jonas Gustavsson allowed all three goals on 31 shots for the Maple Leafs, who lost for the fourth time in five games at Air Canada Centre.
Toronto has won two straight as the visitors and begins a three-game road trip tonight. The Leafs, who will also visit Columbus and Boston during the swing, are 4-5-4 away from Toronto this season.
The Leafs did get Mike Komisarek back on Monday, as the big defenseman played in his first game since November 10. Komisarek missed nine game with a torn quadriceps and had five hits in nearly 17 minutes of ice time.
However, Jeff Finger sat out his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury and fellow defenseman Carl Gunnarsson left Monday's contest after hurting his arm. Both Finger and Gunnarsson are questionable for tonight.