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The Toronto Maple Leafs are probably tired of facing the Montreal Canadiens, but enjoying their victories in both ends of back-to-back games at the Bell Centre on Friday and Saturday. The Leafs youngsters once again stood out in a 3-1 victory over the Habs on Saturday, with a trio of second-rounders (Matthew Knies, Fraser Minten, and Nick Robertson) scoring for Toronto.
The Leafs will take on the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge at Scotiabank Arena on Monday with a lineup that most closely represents what will be theirs to start the regular season against Montreal on October 11, with Robertson occupying the spot of veteran Calle Jarnkrok.
Ilya Samsonov and Keith Petruzzelli will be the goaltending tandem, as Joseph Woll did not play or practice on the weekend due to flu-like symptoms.
As has been commonplace in recent years, the blueline is the focal point of concern. The upper-body injury to veteran John Klingberg kept him out of both weekend games, but there have been no indications that it is something long-term. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case with the injury to Conor Timmins.
The 25-year-old was having an excellent camp, but late in the 2-1 win on Friday, he was hit by Habs winger Tanner Pearson along the boards and suffered a yet-to-be-diagonsed lower-body injury. Head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated on Saturday that the expectation is that Timmins will miss significant time and provided an update on Monday that his injury is week-to-week.
“He has worked incredibly hard, not just through training camp and the off-season, but even last season since his time coming to us,” Keefe said. “I think the foundation he has put in with the work he has put in hopefully will allow him to have a quicker recovery, but for sure, a guy like him who has worked so hard and is competing for a spot to have a setback is tough news for him and for us.”
The Leafs depth on D was in question even before the injury to Timmins, but with two righty blueliners out, Toronto will be dressing four regulars (Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Jake McCabe, and Timothy Liljegren), resting Mark Giordano, and dressing newcomer Simon Benoit and rookie Mikko Kokkonen.
Benoit played 78 games last season for Anaheim, and with his league-minimum salary might have the inside track on making the NHL roster if both Klingberg and Timmins are not available for the season opener, but the big 25-year-old did not appear too sharp after missing a chunk of training camp with back spasms.
There is no indication yet on whether the Timmins injury will result on him going on LTIR, but the Leafs are already at or above the limit for burying money there with Matt Murray and Jake Muzzin out for the season. This will mean an even greater challenge for Leafs cap guru Brandon Pridham early next week.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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