Sportsfrog.com

7pm - MON at TOR - The Game of the Night. The Game of the Season for these two teams. Hockey Night in Canada is in Toronto, featuring the #8 seed versus the #9 seed, with each team separated by just one point. Two weeks ago I pointed to the race coming down to this game and I live in Florida. People in Canada have probably had their eye on it for at least two months.

Here’s how each team breaks down:

Both teams are coming off Thursday night losses.
TOR is 20-13-5 with 1 day off, MON is 20-16-3 with 1 day off.
TOR is 5-3-2 in last 10, MON is 7-3-0 in last 10.
TOR is 10-8-3 in last 21, MON is 13-8-0 in last 21.
TOR is 20-15-5 at home, MON is 16-21-3 away.
TOR is 3-1-3 vs MON this season, MON is 4-2-1 vs TOR this season.

(Thank you Gary Bettman for making the most simple - in theory - of stats quite difficult to reason out. They’ve played each other 7 times, that much I can tell you.)
TOR is 2-0-1 vs MON at home this season, MON is 1-2-0 at the ACC.

Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau hasn’t decided who he’s starting in goal tonight, but the general speculation has been leaning towards Cristobal Huet making his first start since February 14th. Jaroslav Halak, a 21 year old rookie goaltender, has stepped in to help save Montreal’s season over the 9 games (7-2-0) but has struggled a bit on the road. He’s just 3-6-0 away this season and his GAA is almost a full goal more on the road versus his home splits.


Huet came in to replace Halak on Thursday after Halak gave up three goals on 25 shots over the first two periods. But the move was made during the 2nd intermission and was probably more to spark the team than it was a knock against Halak. Since Huet has the experience playing on the road and in Toronto and on HNIC, it’s likely he’ll get the nod tonight.


Leafs netminder Andrew Raycroft is one win away from setting the franchise’s single-season record for wins.

Montreal simply needs a point tonight to earn their fourth consecutive playoff birth, since they hold the tie-braking advantage over Toronto and New York (Islanders) with 42 wins on the season. Toronto has to defeat the Habs in regulation time to earn their first playoff birth since the 2003-04 season. Four of the last seven matchups between these two teams have gone into a shootout. It’s all or nothing for the Leafs tonight on CBC and RDS.