Montreal Canadiens: Tyler Toffoli Out of Lineup With Injury
Montreal Canadiens most dangerous offensive threat will not be in the lineup tonight.
The Habs are just about ready to take on the Vancouver Canucks for the eighth time this season, but Tyler Toffoli won’t be playing.
The Habs leading scorer was announced as a scratch and will be replaced in the lineup by Artturi Lehkonen.
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Toffoli being out of the lineup will be a big test for the rest of the Habs lineup. Toffoli leads the team in goals with 18 and is tied for the team lead in points with Jeff Petry with 27. Missing a game against the Canucks is unfortunate as Toffoli has absolutely torched his former team this season.
The Habs have faced Vancouver eight times already this year and Toffoli has scored eight goals and 13 points in those games. The Canadiens have a 5-0-3 record in those eight games and Toffoli has been a huge reason for their success against the team he played with in the second half of last season.
Montreal have been more or less treading water lately, losing an incredible number of games in overtime recently. In their past 14 games, they are 4-3-7. Four wins in 14 games sounds abysmal, but three regulation losses in 14 games sounds like a hot streak.
The Canadiens need everyone on deck tonight with Toffoli out of the lineup to try and steer that record closer to a hot streak.
They have scored 11 goals in their past five games, and will need to dig deep with their best goal scorer out of the lineup.
One reason for optimism is that Braden Holtby is in goal for the Canucks tonight and he has struggled this season. He’s made one start in the past month because Thatcher Demko has been on fire, and Holtby has a save percentage of .893 on the year.
Holtby has faced the Canadiens three times this season and has allowed 15 goals on 108 shots. That is a .861 save percentage against the Habs this season. Toffoli has been a big part of that, but Holtby hasn’t been great this season.
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The injury doesn’t sound long term as Toffoli was officially listed as day to day. He finished the game last night and appeared fine. Hopefully he is back in the lineup Tuesday night when the Canadiens face the Edmonton Oilers.