The Maple Leafs hit the ice at the Ricoh Coliseum against Montreal tonight for Toronto's fifth of a league-high eight pre-season games.
Auston Matthews says whether it's exhibition or the regular season it's always special when the Leafs battle the Habs.
"Anytime you play those guys it doesn't matter if it's a pre-season game, you know it's going to be a physical and fast game," says Matthews. "They've got some skill on their team — just like we do — so it usually makes for a pretty exciting game."
Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock (TorontoMapleLeafs.com video screenshot)
Maple Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock plans on dressing a fairly heavily weighted NHL lineup tonight.
"I was able to talk to Claude [Julien — Montreal's head coach] yesterday and he's bringing a full group too," says Babcock. "That will be a part of our preparation and we still have a number of jobs that players are battling for and I met with a number of guys who are right in the middle of that battle for jobs and let them know they type of effort it's going to take."
The Leafs are 2-2 so far this pre-season while Montreal is 0-4.
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