Nick Foligno is out for the Toronto Maple Leafs when they look to take a 3-1 lead in their Stanley Cup First Round series against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
Foligno is day to day with an undisclosed injury and did not play in Toronto's 2-1 win in Game 3 at Bell Centre on Monday. He had four assists in seven-regular season games after being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 11.
Montreal has scored four goals in the series, including one in each of the past two games, both losses. Canadiens forward Josh Anderson said they have a sense of urgency heading into Game 4, needing a win to even the series.
"Tonight is such an important game," Anderson said. "We all know where we are right now, down 2-1. "You've got to come out and bring that energy and momentum, and it all starts with that first shift tonight. I think that is going to be a key factor of tonight's game."
Anderson said the Canadiens are treating it like an elimination game.
"We need everybody," he said. "We know what's at stake here. We've got to do everything we can to tie it up."
Teams that hold a 3-1 lead are 292-29 (91.0 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 1-0 this season.
Here are 3 keys to Game 4:
1. Price has faith
Canadiens goalie Carey Price said after the game Monday he was not frustrated at his team's lack of offense and that he was confident the goals would come. His words seem to have resonated with his teammates.
"It's big," Montreal forward Nick Suzuki said. "Obviously he is the rock of our team and made some outstanding saves Monday] night to keep us in the game. We want to score goals and we want to win games. So, I like our chances."
**2. Protecting the lead**
The Maple Leafs were satisfied with the outcome of Game 3 but were critical of their own play in the third period, when they were outshot 15-2. Goalie Jack Campbell managed to preserve the victory, but Toronto must be better when protecting a lead.
"We don't like defending as much as we did, but our guys defended very hard," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "The guys competed. It was a tough period. They were coming at us real hard. I'd like to see us relax and make a few more plays so we can settle the game down."
3. Caufield provides spark
He didn't score a point, but Canadiens rookie forward Cole Caufield had a successful playoff debut; the 20-year-old had three shots on goal in 15:50 of ice time, including 3:20 on the power play. He was scratched for the first two games of the series.
"There's a lot to like," Suzuki said. "[He] plays with a lot of energy [and] sees the ice well, which I think is an underrated part of his game."
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner
Alex Galchenyuk -- Alex Kerfoot -- William Nylander
Pierre Engvall --
[Adam Brooks
-- Ilya Mikheyev
Joe Thornton -- Jason Spezza -- Wayne Simmonds
Morgan Rielly -- TJ Brodie
Jake Muzzin -- Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin -- Travis Dermott
Jack Campbell
Frederik Andersen
Scratched: Martin Marincin, David Rittich, Michael Hutchinson, Riley Nash, Zach Bogosian
Injured: Nick Foligno (undisclosed), John Tavares (concussion/knee), Ben Hutton (illness)
Canadiens projected lineup
Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Josh Anderson
Joel Armia -- Nick Suzuki -- Cole Caufield
Tyler Toffoli -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Brendan Gallagher
Artturi Lehkonen -- Paul Byron -- Corey Perry
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Joel Edmundson -- Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak -- Jon Merrill
Carey Price
Jake Allen
Scratched: Michael Frolik, Alex Belzile , Erik Gustafsson, Alexander Romanov, Xavier Ouellet , Cayden Primeau
Injured: Eric Staal (undisclosed), Jake Evans (undisclosed)
Status report
Brooks, a forward, and Dermott, a defenseman, will each enter the lineup. ... Staal, a forward, skated for about 15 minutes Wednesday after missing Game 2. Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme said any lineup changes would be game-time decisions, including Lehkonen, who left in the first period Monday with an undisclosed injury.
