Toronto Maple Leafs take last trip of the season to face Montreal Canadiens – NHL Preview
Unfortunate for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens that both were unable to qualify for the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs this season, but both teams have much to learn as they end their season.
Considering the present situation, both can only hope to display a better performance in the next season after practising hard to overcome their flaws during the offseason.
Leafs and Canadiens are going to play in what will be the last game of the season for both of them on Saturday, April 07, 2012, at Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Here is a look at both teams.
Leafs
They are ranked at 13th spot in the Eastern Conference with 80 points after 81 games. Leafs tried hard to stay alive in the playoff contention, but they were unable to secure the desired number of victories and were eventually eliminated.
Out of their last six games, Leafs have only won two with the recent victory coming against Tampa Bay Lightning.
After the win, Leafs’ captain, Dion Phaneuf, commented:
"We struggled at home for a while, no one was happy about it. We have not been playing the way that we want to play. But we wanted to finish our year off, our last game at home in front of our fans, the way we [did]."
Leafs’ centre, Steven Stamkos, has so far scored 59 goals this season and is the leading goal-scorer. If he manages to add another goal and take his total number of goals to 60, he will became the first player to score 60 more goals after Washington Capitals’
captain, Alex Ovechkin, who scored 65 goals in the 2007-08 season.
Canadiens
They are placed at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 76 points after 81 games. They have lost five out of their last six games with the recent defeat coming against Carolina Hurricanes.
Hurricanes and Canadiens got their only goal of the regulation in the second period and the game was later decided on shootout in which Hurricanes managed to get one scoring move.
Goaltender, Peter Budaj, said about the game against Leafs:
"We have to get ready to give 100% in our last game now. There's nothing else to save it for.”
Predictions
Leafs have a slight edge.
The sum of goals scored by both teams might stay under six.
If Canadiens win, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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