No. 1 Maple Leafs at No. 4 Canadiens
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, TVAS
Best-of-7 series tied, 1-1
The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to keep their momentum going and take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup First Round against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
The Maple Leafs evened the best-of-7 series with a 5-1 win in Game 2 at home Saturday after losing Game 1 in Toronto, 2-1. They dedicated the victory to captain John Tavares, who sustained a concussion and knee injury in Game 1 and will be out of the lineup at least two weeks.
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe called on the rest of his team to step up in the Tavares' absence, and center Auston Matthews led the way, when he scored three points (one goal, two assists), won 16 of 20 faceoffs, had four hits, three takeaways and 10 shot attempts.
Defenseman Zach Bogosian said Matthews' performance was inspiring and will motivate the Maple Leafs heading into Games 3 and 4, which will be held on back-to-back nights Monday and Tuesday at Bell Centre in Montreal.
"Any time you have a superstar like that who is playing a full 200-foot game, who's playing physical … he has proven that he is a pure goal scorer and he's going to score huge goals for us," Bogosian said. "But to see him physically engaged, he's a big dude and when he plays that intense, it bleeds into the group."
Rookie forward Cole Caufield will make his playoff debut for the Canadiens in Game 3. The 20-year-old, who was a healthy scratch in the first two games of the series, scored five points (four goals, one assist) in 10 games during the regular season.
"We like Cole. He's going to be one of 18 guys who will be skating tonight, and we want to be at our best," Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme said.
Teams that win Game 3 when tied 1-1 are 223-107 (67.6 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 3-1 in the first round last season.
Here are three keys:
Canadiens shuffle the deck
Caufield draws into the lineup for forward Eric Staal who is not 100 percent, according to Ducharme. It's part of some lineup tweaks for the Canadiens in Game 2, including revamped line combinations. Most notably, forwards Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher are not expected to start together after playing on Montreal's top line, which Ducharme said wasn't operating efficiently enough in the first two games.
"It doesn't mean they won't be together again," he said.
Maple Leafs confident in standing pat
Forward Nick Foligno was not on the ice for the morning skate Monday, his spot between wings Alexander Galchenyuk and William Nylander occupied by center Riley Nash. Keefe quickly put an end to speculation that Foligno might be injured, when he confirmed the forward will play in Game 3, keeping intact the winning lineup from Game 2.
Keefe was asked what changes for Toronto with the speedy, skilled Caufield in Montreal's lineup.
"It doesn't change anything for us," he said.
Discipline needed
The Canadiens were shorthanded six times in Game 2 and allowed two power play goals in their 5-1 loss. The turning point of the game came in the second period when the Canadiens took four consecutive minors, a trend Danault said must stop.
"We cut our (own) legs with too many penalties," Danault said.
Maple Leafs forward Joe Thornton said it is imperative to turn the other cheek when scrums develop after whistles.
"We just have to keep our nose down and work through things … There's a lot of emotions out there and you need to stay focused," Thornton said.
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner
Alex Galchenyuk -- Nick Foligno -- William Nylander
Ilya Mikheyev -- Pierre Engvall -- Alexander Kerfoot
Joe Thornton -- Jason Spezza -- Wayne Simmonds
Rasmus Sandin -- Zach Bogosian
Scratched: Riley Nash, Adam Brooks, Travis Dermott, Martin Marincin, David Rittich, Michael Hutchinson
Injured: John Tavares (concussion), 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
Scratched: Michael Frolik, Alex Belzile, Erik Gustafsson, Alexander Romanov, Xavier Oullet, Cayden Primeau
Injured: Eric Staal (undisclosed), Jake Evans (undisclosed)
Status report
Evans will miss his second consecutive game … Nash will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game after making his Maple Leafs debut in Game 1.
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