Leafs To Ice Interesting Roster For Pre-Season Rematch Against Canadiens

After throttling the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday evening by a score of 7-2, the Maple Leafs and the Habs will square off again on Saturday night, this time at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

The Leafs dressed a lineup mostly consisting of AHLers and depth NHLers on Thursday, and were propelled to victory on the back of a sensational performance from Scott Laughton, Steven Lorentz and Easton Cowan, who combined for 8 points on the evening -- 4 of which came from Laughton.

The roster that will take to the ice for the Leafs on Saturday night consists of a blend of stars and hopefuls, according to TSN's Mark Masters, who has shared the line combinations during line rushes at the Leafs' morning skate.

Something interesting to note is that the trio of Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy and Matias Maccelli remain together on Saturday. The trio also skated together on Friday at practice and will debut as the new third line tonight.

Max Domi also makes his pre-season debut after missing time with an injury, which he had suffered before the start of training camp. He'll skate on a line with Matthew Knies and Nicholas Robertson on Saturday.

Likewise, Anthony Stolarz will also make his pre-season debut.

It is worth noting that captain Auston Matthews opted to join today's main group for practice, but did not take line rushes, skating as an extra.

A healthy Matthews coming out for extra work is certainly a much different situation than last season, where he would routinely take extra rest to manage his injury.

Another intriguing storyline coming out of Saturday's practice has a healthy and motivated Calle Jarnkrok skating next to John Tavares and William Nylander on the team's 2nd line. Bobby McMann had previously been skating with Nylander and Tavares.

Tonight should be a fun one, and the puck is expected to drop shortly after 7:00pm ET, with coverage provided by Sportsnet.