On Friday night, Michel Therrien's troops surrendered three third-period goals and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.
After holding the Hurricanes to just eight shots on goal through 40 minutes of play - and taking a 1-0 lead into the third period on a goal by Jeff Petry - Jeff Skinner, Teuvo Teravainen and Victor Rask all lit the lamp behind netminder Al Montoya in a span of 5:50 to give Carolina the win.
Andrew Shaw also found the back of the net for the Canadiens to bring them within a goal with 4:31 remaining in regulation time. Unfortunately, the comeback stopped there.
Andrei Markov picked up his 11th and 12th assists of the year in a losing effort, while Charles Hudon also collected a helper in his regular-season debut after being called up from the AHL's St. John's IceCaps on Thursday afternoon. For his part, Montoya finished the game with 15 saves.
Carey Price should be back between the pipes for the Canadiens on Saturday night, and captain Max Pacioretty will be playing the 500th game of his NHL career.
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are coming into Saturday night's contest on a two-game winning streak after posting a 6-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, before following that up with a 6-1 thrashing of the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
James van Riemsdyk currently leads the Maple Leafs with 17 points in 17 games - and six of those points (4g - 2a) have come over the last two games alone. Young gun Mitchell Marner has also been heating up, posting four points (2g - 2a) in his last two outings for Toronto. Frederik Andersen was in goal for both of those big wins.
In their first meeting of the season back on October 29, the Canadiens downed the Maple Leafs 2-1 at the Bell Centre.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on CBC and TVA Sports, as well as on TSN Radio 690 and 98,5 fm.
