Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the Toronto Maple Leafs (23-29-4, 50 points) and Montreal Canadiens (35-15-4, 74 points) face-off for the second of four meetings this season live from the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Toronto has lost two straight games after snapping an 11-match losing streak while Montreal has won three of its last four contests and closes out a three-game home stand.
The Canadiens sit at first place in the Atlantic Division and are tied for the most points in the Eastern Conference while the Maple Leafs enter this game in 14th place in the Easern Conference and 13 points out of a playoff spot.
The first time these two teams played, Montreal topped Toronto 4-3 on Oct. 8.
This game can be live streamed by clicking here.
The Maple Leafs are coming in off of a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday and will try to avoid a third straight defeat.
The team is ready for a tough matchup tonight.
"Montreal's always a tough team to play against," Toronto center Nazem Kadri said via NHL.com. "We usually come in here and have a pretty good effort, but it's a good team. They obviously have a great goalie back there, so we're going to have to do a lot of things right and not make many mistakes."
Phil Kessel has paced the Maple Leafs offensively with 47 points off of 21 goals and 26 assists. James van Riemsdyk has 43 points off of 21 tallies and 22 helpers while Tyler Bozak has found the twine 15 times and added 21 assists for 36 points.
The Canadiens are coming off of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and don't have time to worry about their opponents struggles during a tight race with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings.
"I think they're definitely going through a rough time right now, and being in Canada, you see it all," forward Brandon Prust said. "I was a Leafs fan growing up, so I saw it all. We're not really worried about other teams right now, we've got to worry about ourselves."
Max Pacioretty has paced Montreal with 25 goals and 46 points with leading the NHL with a plus-28 rating. P.K. Subban is second on Canadiens with 38 points off of 11 markers and 27 helpers while Tomas Plekanec has lit the lamp 16 times and added 21 assists for 37 points.
In between the pipes, Montreal turns to Carey Price and he is first in the NHL with a .933 save percentage and second in goals-against average (2.00) and wins (30).
Toronto is set to counter with Jonathan Bernier in the crease and he is 16-17-4 with a 2.77 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
It's a battle between two Canadian rivals when the puck drops on the Maple Leafs and Canadiens live from the Bell Centre tonight in Montreal.
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