Toronto, Ontario (My Sportsbook) - The
Toronto Maple Leafs will host the
Montreal Canadiens as one of hockey's storied rivalries is renewed in the fourth annual Hall of Fame game Saturday at Air Canada Centre.
On Monday Bernie Federko, Clark Gillies and Rod Langway will be enshrined as players in the Hockey Hall of Fame, while Roger Neilson will be honored in the builder category.
The Leafs, who are 1-0-2-0 in Hall of Fame games, enter Saturday's tilt on a two-game unbeaten streak (1-0-1), most recently tying the winless Atlanta Thrashers, 3-3, on Thursday.
Mats Sundin, Travis Green and Tie Domi scored for Toronto, which is 1-3-2 in its last six and has yet to win consecutive games this season. Ed Belfour made 17 saves for Toronto and is now two wins away from tying Tom Barrasso for 10th on the all-time list with 368.
The Leafs nearly scored with 34 seconds remaining in regulation, but Atlanta netminder Pasi Nurminen came up with an incredible save. Nurminen failed to handle a bouncing puck in the crease and Alyn McCauley swept in for Toronto and tried to chip it over the prone goaltender, who was able to kick his right leg up in the air to keep the puck out of the net.
Alexander Mogilny notched his 10th assist of the season and has recorded at least one point in eight of his last nine games.
Toronto is currently in the midst of a seven-game homestand (1-3-1) that will wrap up on Tuesday against Tampa Bay.
Jose Theodore made 36 saves, including eight in overtime, to help the Montreal Canadiens earn a 2-2 tie with the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.
Randy McKay scored two goals for the Canadiens, who have lost only once in their last seven (2-1-4). Doug Gilmour assisted on both Montreal goals and has an assist in his last three games.
Montreal was outshot 8-1 in overtime, as Theodore preserved the deadlock with an incredible save with just over a minute and a half remaining. The puck crawled up Theodore's arm, went over his shoulder and down his back, but he alertly swung his glove around behind his back to stop the puck before it dropped into the net.
Following tonight's game, the Canadiens will return home for four games that includes visits from St. Louis, the Islanders, Los Angeles and Dallas.
Toronto is unbeaten in the last six matchups between these teams (2-0-4), 10-2-4 in the last 16 and 11-5-4 in the previous 20 matchups.
Montreal has also struggled on the Leafs home ice and is 0-8-1 in their last nine and have never won at Air Canada Centre. The last time the Canadiens won in Toronto was December 26, 1998 when they defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 in the last ever meeting between the two storied franchises at Maple Leaf Gardens.