The Maple Leafs are set to play their sixth preseason game – and third against the Montreal Canadiens – tonight as they look to continue their winning ways after sweeping the back-to-back in Montreal over the weekend.

What has felt like a lengthy preseason schedule is soon to be almost finished, with just two games remaining after tonight’s contest between two of the game’s oldest rivals.

Since we’re well into training camp and Toronto already has played five games, Toronto will be going with an NHL-heavy lineup tonight from the Maple Leafs as they host the Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena.

As seen above from a post by the Maple Leafs PR account on X, this is tonight’s roster for their game.

There are a lot of everyday NHL players here listed, and given three games are remaining on the preseason schedule, we may see them dress up for both of the games after tonight’s game against Montreal or at least one of them.

Calle Jarnkrok, Conor Timmins, Mark Giordano, John Klingberg and Joseph Woll are all still either injured, sick or having a maintenance day, so that is why we see Simon Benoit, Mikko Kokkonen and Keith Petruzzelli on tonight’s roster.

According to David Alter of The Hockey News, these were the lines at practice today for Toronto and are the projected lineup for tonight’s game.

 

The first line of Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner remains the same. The second line, which should be a third line, of Knies-Tavares-Lafferty will also be sticking together for this one. However, with the absence of Jarnkrok, the third line will feature Nick Robertson on the wing with Domi and Nylander.

Lastly, the fourth line is the same as it was from the beginning. Gregor, who has impressed many on his PTO, will be on the wing with Kampf and Reaves.

With Toronto having some injuries on the back end in the early going, the pairings are slightly different. Rielly-Brodie remains the same, but McCabe will be paired with Liljegren in this one, with Klingberg still day-to-day.

Benoit-Kokkonen will serve as the third pair, and given that both players remain with this group, it looks like they are both two players who are the next man up in case of injuries during the season.

Ilya Samsonov is also the starter for tonight’s game, per Sheldon Keefe.

The Canadiens, similar to the Maple Leafs, will be going with an NHL-heavy lineup tonight and what will be their opening night lineup or at least very close to it.

In the post above from the Canadiens X account, these are their projected lines:

Since it’s an NHL-heavy lineup tonight, I feel like there are a lot of players to watch because we have yet to see everyone play in the same game.

However, I guess I’ll have my eyes on the top line a little more tonight.

We know Matthews and Marner have elite chemistry, but with a new linemate in Bertuzzi, it’ll take a little time to gel together. With his style of play similar to Bunting, I don’t think it’ll take long to get things going

You can catch the game tonight at 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT on Sportsnet.