The Maple Leafs defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Thursday night. Friday is a day off for the team.
The Canadiens handily beat the Leafs two weeks ago in Montreal. Since that disappointing defeat, Toronto has won four of five games on the road to get their season back on track.
And now they’re ready for the rematch.
“We needed this,” said winger Matthew Knies following Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. “We needed that energy. We’re just going to try to bring that home. We’ve had a tendency to be flat at home, but I think we’re going to come Saturday and give some payback to these guys.”
The Leafs, who have dropped four of their last five games at home (1-2-2), will host the Habs on Saturday.
“We have them at home now,” said centre Scott Laughton. “We just play the same way and continue to roll. We’ve got to be really good and strong, and we’ve got to kind of do what they did to us.”
Montreal outshot Toronto 17-9 during a dominant second period on Nov. 22. The Canadiens built a 4-0 lead and cruised to a 5-2 win. Head coach Craig Berube said it was “inexcusable” that his veteran team got flustered after falling behind in that game. Back then the Leafs seemed like a fragile group.
The vibe is much different heading into Saturday’s game.
“Just over the last few games on this road trip, I think all four lines are just getting it done,” said captain Auston Matthews. “Everybody’s playing hard, everybody’s competing. It doesn’t matter who’s scoring, you know, everybody’s chipping in, doing the little things. I think that’s the biggest takeaway from this trip, and it’s a great confidence builder for us. We’ve got to continue to keep that momentum back on home ice.”
‘Urgency is everything’: Leafs seek ‘payback’ against Canadiens The Canadiens handily beat the Leafs two weeks ago. Toronto is eager to turn the tables in Saturday’s rematch. “We’ve had a tendency to be flat at home, but I think we’re going to come Saturday and get some payback,” said winger Matthew Knies.
Thirteen different Leafs scored a goal on the road trip while 18 different players produced at least one point.
Toronto ended the trip with three straight regulation wins against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers and Hurricanes to match their longest streak of the season. The Leafs outscored the opposition 16-4 in those games.
“When you look at from the start of the trip to now, just the confidence with the puck is in a way better spot,” Berube said. “We talked about it, puck possession, making some more plays and wanting the puck a little bit more, like, working for each other, and I think they’ve done a good job of grabbing that and going with it.”
Toronto returns home in a much better spot in the standings, but still sits outside a playoff spot. The Leafs trail the Canadiens, who are in third place in the Atlantic Division, by just two points heading into Saturday’s showdown.
“Take what we did on the road and bring it home,” Berube stressed. “Urgency, for me, will be everything in that game.”
“Saturday night in Toronto versus Montreal, it doesn’t really get any bigger than that,” said Knies.
How did Leafs get back on track during trip? ‘Confidence with the puck’ The Leafs climbed out of the Eastern Conference basement with an impressive 4-1-0 road trip. What changed? “Confidence with the puck is in a way better spot more than anything,” said coach Craig Berube.
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Knies helped the Leafs grab control of Thursday’s game with a tremendous individual effort in the second period.
Knies, who was at the end of a long shift, skated past Hurricanes defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere and tracked down a loose puck in the neutral zone.
“I saw that he lost his stick there so was able to kind of get a speed burst and take the body a little bit,” Knies told TSN in an intermission interview.
Gostisbehere, who had dropped his stick at the Leafs blue line, pushed Knies from behind and the 23-year-old fell to one knee briefly. Hurricanes centre Sebastian Aho was skating back hard and tried to prevent a clean look.
Did Knies think he could beat Aho to the net after getting pushed?
“No, but tried to dip the shoulder and create some space for myself and fortunate it worked out,” he said.
Aho bounced off the 6-foot-3, 232-pound Knies, who deposited the puck past Frederikk Andersen to put the Leafs up 3-1.
“It doesn’t matter how many guys are draped all over him,” said Matthews. “He’s such a big body, so strong, and he just kind of shrugs it off. It’s very impressive. He’s a handful out there.”
Later in the period, Knies intercepted a pass in the Leafs zone and sprung Matthews and Max Domi on a 2-on-1 rush. Hurricanes defenceman Alexander Nikishin appeared on track to get back and disrupt the odd-man rush, but Knies simply would not let the Russian get by him.
“That’s all Kniesy on that play,” said Matthews. “I mean, just kind of getting in that guy’s way to slow him down.”
Knies is an emerging power forward and has earned some loose comparisons to Capitals winger Tom Wilson.
“I love seeing young guys come into the league and play that power game,” Wilson told TSN before facing Knies and the Leafs last week. “A young power forward, who skates really well and he’s a strong kid. Obviously, he’s got some offensive upside. I think he’s got a lot of potential. I always love to see some of those young kids trend towards the old-school game and and keep that around in the game of hockey.”
‘Doesn’t matter how many guys are draped all over him’: Knies powers Leafs win Matthew Knies showed off his power forward game with a highlight-reel goal on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter how many guys are draped all over him,” said linemate Auston Matthews. “He’s such a big body, so strong and he just shrugs it off.”
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Jakub Dobes, who beat the Leafs two weeks ago, will get the start for the Canadiens again on Saturday.
Dennis Hildeby is likely to get the call for the Leafs after Joseph Woll left Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury.
“Great rivalry,” Hildeby said. “Always a fun game. It will be a good crowd, I can imagine.”
With Anthony Stolarz also sidelined by an injury right now, Hildeby is suddenly Toronto’s go-to goalie. The Leafs have faith the 24-year-old Swede can run with the opportunity despite his limited NHL experience.
“He just comes in with a very quiet confidence,” Matthews said. “He’s naturally a quiet guy, but he fits right in. He’s got his Swedish buddies there, and they all kind of take care of each other, and it’s great. But you can just see he’s got a quiet confidence to him any time he steps in the net. He knows what he’s doing in there.”
Hildeby is 1-2-1 with a .917 save percentage this season. Four of his seven appearances have come in relief. He stopped all three shots he faced in Montreal two weeks ago after Woll was pulled in the second period.
Hildeby turned aside all nine shots he faced in the third period on Thursday night against the Hurricanes.
“It’s not easy to come in there in that situation,” Berube said. “I loved when he’s ripping them pucks around the wall [after the puck is dumped in]. He battled in the net and made some good saves for us.”
Hildeby only has nine NHL starts under his belt, but the 6-foot-7 goalie brings a presence to the crease.
“Just practising against him, it’s almost impossible to score with how big he is,” said Knies. “So I’m pretty confident that opposing teams are going to have the same trouble.”
‘Enjoy the moment’: Hildeby stays calm with Leafs workload set to rise With Joseph Woll joining Anthony Stolarz on the injured list, Dennis Hildeby is suddenly the No. 1 goalie in Toronto. “You always got to be ready,” the 24-year-old Swede said. “Just do the best you can and just enjoy the moment.”
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The Leafs are second overall in faceoff percentage (57) this season and John Tavares is a big reason why.
“Faceoffs are an art and, for me, it takes years,” said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour prior to Thursday’s game. “He’s even, I think, still getting better.”
Tavares is winning 61.1 per cent of his draws. His career high is 60.6 per cent in the 2021-22 season.
“If you watch, you know, I don’t want to give it away, but he gets away with a lot because he’s smart and he knows how to dive in,” said Brind’Amour, who was a top faceoff man during his playing days.
So, is Tavares cheating?
“It’s not cheating,” Brind’Amour explained. “It’s understanding how to manipulate things, that’s really all it is.”
In his final NHL season as a player in 2009-10, Brind’Amour faced off with Tavares, who was a rookie, four times.
“If I was playing him now, you know, I’d get probably my ass kicked,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s elite.”
What is it that makes Tavares, now 35 and in his 17th NHL season, so special at the dot?
“He understands the importance of it,” Brind’Amour said. “You can just see, there’s never a face-off that he doesn’t try to win, like, full in, because he understands the game.”
As centres get older, they tend to get better on faceoffs. Why?
“It’s adding things,” said Brind’Amour. “All those guys that are elite, they take it serious. Like, that’s part of what makes them great and they understand that, not that other guys don’t, but there’s a different care factor with those guys.”
Facing Staal on faceoffs reminds Tavares of Brind’Amour battles John Tavares and Nicolas Roy describe what it’s like going up against Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal at the faceoff circle and Roy explains what he learned from him throughout his time in Carolina.
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Leafs lines in Thursday’s game:
Knies – Matthews – Domi
Cowan – Tavares – Nylander
Joshua – Roy – McMann
Lorentz – Laughton – Robertson
Rielly – Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Stecher
Benoit – Myers
Woll
Hildeby
