Maple Leafs at Canadiens preview

MAPLE LEAFS (13-7-0) at CANADIENS (8-10-2)
7 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY, TVA Sports, NHL.TV

Matthews was one of a few players who took part in Toronto's optional morning skate. The Maple Leafs have won five straight, the past four with Matthews out of the lineup because of a lower-body injury.
Montreal will dress the same lineup it used in a 5-4 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. The Canadiens are 1-2-1 in their past four games after winning five of their previous six.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen will try to win his fifth straight start; he has allowed seven goals in his past four and is coming off a 42-save, 1-0 overtime win against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
Canadiens forward Paul Byron has scored a goal in consecutive games after going six games without a point.

#

They said it

"I guarantee you they're going to be going here tonight. It's us and it's Saturday night and they need the win. They've also … been playing well. So we expect, just like last time, there to be no space and it to be a grind." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"I definitely didn't want to miss tonight's game. It's fun to be out there on that stage against Toronto, and this kind of a night takes you back to being a kid." -- Canadiens defenseman Jordie Benn, one of three Montreal players who missed practice Friday because of the flu

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Mitchell Marner
Matt Martin -- Dominic Moore -- Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman -- Connor Carrick
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Roman Polak, Josh Leivo, Nikita Soshnikov
Injured: None

Canadiens projected lineup

Alex Galchenyuk -- Jonathan Drouin -- Paul Byron
Max Pacioretty -- Phillip Danault -- Andrew Shaw
Charles Hudon -- Tomas Plekanec -- Brendan Gallagher
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Jacob de la Rose -- Byron Froese
Jordie Benn -- Shea Weber
Karl Alzner -- Jeff Petry
Victor Mete -- Joe Morrow
Charlie Lindgren
Antti Niemi
Scratched:Brandon Davidson, Torrey Mitchell
Injured:Carey Price (lower body), Al Montoya (concussion), Artturi Lehkonen (lower body), Nikita Scherbak (knee), David Schlemko (hand), Ales Hemsky (concussion-like symptoms)

Status report

Benn, Drouin and Pacioretty, the three Canadiens who missed practice because of the flu Friday, each participated in an optional morning skate on Saturday.

Stat pack

Kadri (three goals, three assists) and Rielly (one goal, five assists) each has a five-game point streak. ... Marner has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past three games. ... Pacioretty has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past 10 games.