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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Forget what you might have heard about the Montreal Canadiens’ 13-game winning streak over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Habs don’t want to hear about it at all.

Getting set to face the Maple Leafs for the fourth time this season on Saturday night, the Canadiens have won every contest between the Original Six foes dating back to Jan. 18, 2014. Yet this is a different Montreal team than Toronto has seen previously, one that’s been losing more than winning in 2017 (they’ve posted a 9-10-2 record since Jan. 1) and that saw the firing of head coach Michel Therrien after a 1-5-1 stretch to start February.​ Toronto will look a little different too - centre Tyler Bozak will miss the game with an upper body injury.

Now adjusting to their second week under Claude Julien, the Canadiens have their sights firmly trained on establishing a more hopeful future, one game at a time.

“We’re not worried about what people say about streaks or breaking out of the funk. It’s more about worrying about this game tonight,” said Max Pacioretty of the Habs’ success over Toronto. “We can’t control [what’s happened] and they’re going to be playing with a lot of jump to try and change the standings. We have to worry about ourselves and show our best, because they’re going to show their best.”

As far as big games go, a clash between these clubs can always fit the bill. But this time, there’s an added postseason narrative that the rivalry’s been lacking. Montreal has a precarious hold on the top spot in the Atlantic Division, a perch they’ve held onto in a relatively weak division thanks in part to a sensational 13-1-1 run to start the season. But now the Senators, Maple Leafs and Bruins have each pulled within four points, and Florida is only six back, putting even more pressure on Saturday’s outcome.

“It’s a Saturday night, playing in Toronto. There are no issues trying to get up for this game,” Pacioretty said. “But it just adds a little bit more fuel to the fire I think with the positioning of the standings. You couldn’t ask for a better time to try and feel good about ourselves. We have to get that confidence back and have a little bit of swagger, have guys turn off their brain and just go out there and play and react.”

Coming off a 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday, Julien will slot Sven Andrighetto, David Desharnais and Nikita Nesterov into the lineup against Toronto. With the club 1-1-1 since his regime began, Julien is hoping a different look will encourage a superior performance out of the Canadiens.

“We’re very capable of being better and the guys know that, they feel it,” Julien said. “We just need to bring it tonight, we need to focus on the present not the past and what are we going to do starting tonight and we hope we can play to the expectations of this hockey club.”

Goaltender Carey Price has stolen a couple wins already from the Maple Leafs – two of the first three games were decided by one goal and Toronto has outshot Montreal 38-31, 32-29 and 36-31. But after starting the season 11-0-1, Price has only three wins in his last ten starts, and his .918 save percentage is only slightly better than Frederik Andersen’s .915 save percentage ahead of their fourth battle.

Like the team around him, Andersen has come a long way from the season’s early goings, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Toronto’s 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers was the first time he’s looked like a No. 1 netminder since the all-star break. Saturday is a chance to assert himself again.

“It’s going to be a goalie battle, it usually is when you’re playing these guys. It’s a fun challenge,” Andersen said. “These have been close games [between us], and we’ve had some chances, but I think we weren’t really able to capitalize on them at the start of the year.”

“Carey is a great goaltender,” added Nazem Kadri. “Every shot he sees he’s going to stop so we have to get to the net, get traffic in there and limit him seeing pucks. At the end of the day, we have to stick to our system.”

For as much focus as gets trained on the Maple Leafs and their crop of exuberant young players (Nathan Beaulieu referred to Toronto as having “so much fun out there it’s scary”), the Canadiens could stand to start enjoying themselves too. With a sense of renewal spreading throughout the dressing room and into their historic rivalry with the Maple leafs, all Montreal needs now are the victories.

“[The playoff race] could be fun, and we want to be on the right side of that fun and make sure we’re playing the right way,” Pacioretty said. “When we have success, we have everyone involved and that makes it fun, and that makes the team chemistry fun to be around. We need everyone contributing and when we have that, we’re a dangerous group to be around.”

 

Morning Skate Notes

- Mitch Marner skated with the Maple Leafs for the first time since going down with an upper-body injury on Feb. 15. He wore a black defenceman’s jersey and skated on the fourth pairing with Martin Marincin. Marner was flying around the ice but didn’t take part in zone drills but had an impressive move to break up a 2-on-1 play that ilicited a classic Marner celebration. After the skate Mike Babcock said he thought the rookie looked like Toronto’s best player out there and didn’t know why he wouldn’t be dressing on Saturday. Marner’s next chance to return is Tuesday in San Jose.

- After missing practice on Friday, Tyler Bozak was absent from skate and would be a game time decision according to Babcock. In his place, Ben Smith slotted in at centre between James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown; if Bozak can’t play, that trio will stand against the Canadiens. ​