Big Smoke battle

Nothing like a Saturday night matchup between two of the NHL's most fabled franchises to get the interest up for a game between two playoff wannabes.

Both the Toronto Maple Leafs, who sit ninth in the Eastern Conference, and Montreal Canadiens, who are 12th, are looking to find a level of consistency that will get them back to the top eight before it's too late.

The Leafs are coming off a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Thursday night; a game that was really not a good measuring stick for whether or not they have cured what was ailing them. Previously the Maple Leafs had lost three straight. After a great start to the season the Wild are now one of the league's worst teams so the fact the Leafs beat them handily isn't saying much.

The Canadiens, meanwhile, are suffering through one of the worst chapters in the organization's otherwise long and proud history. After a disappointing start the Habs fired head coach Jacques Martin, replacing him with up-and-comer Randy Cunneyworth. That set off a storm of discontent amongst the French-speaking media who believe the coach of the Canadiens must be able to converse in French. Cunneyworth, obviously, does not and will probably lose his job because of it.

Beyond that there is speculation GM Pierre Gauthier is skating on thin ice and will be replaced at the end of the season, if not sooner.

On the ice the Habs have been dreadful. In an effort to turn things around they traded one of their best forwards, Michael Cammalleri, to the Calgary Flames for Rene Bourque. Scott Gomez continues to be the most overpaid player in the NHL. He earns US$7.5 million this season and has no goals -- that's right, no goals! -- in 17 games.

The Canadiens played Friday night and lost 5-4 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins; a game in which they held two-goal leads on two separate occasions.

You would think, given the fact they played last night and had to travel afterward, they'd be sitting ducks for the Leafs. Well, the Leafs don't see it that way.

"Along the way you face these situations all the time and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "The most important thing for us is to prepare ourselves for what we have to do to win and not focus on Montreal. Let's assume we were tired and they were fresh; that has got to be our way of preparing for the game. The two points are huge and we're not good enough to overlook anybody. We did a lot of good things (against Minnesota) and even against Ottawa that we have to continue to build on."

Added defenceman Cody Franson: "Ottawa played the night before we played them this week and they came out of here with two points. We try to do our best to learn from our mistakes and we're not going to take these guys lightly."

Fellow defender Carl Gunnarsson said regardless of where the two teams are in the standings, there's always something special about a meeting between the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens.

"When you play the Montreal Canadiens it doesn't matter if they have played the night before," Gunnarsson said. "It is a special rivalry. If you can't give 100 per cent on a Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada against Montreal, then there's something wrong. I don't think it matters that they played last night. It should not affect us at all."

Gunnarson believes a the Maple Leafs will need to get off to a quick start if they want to have success against the Canadiens.

"If we can get the first goal that would be huge for us," Gunnarsson explained. "We play our best hockey when we have the lead. We can just keep going and wait for our opponent to make a mistake."

LUPUL GETS AN 'A': Left winger Joffrey Lupul has been named one of the alternate captains for next week's NHL all-star game in Ottawa. He will help captain Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins pick one team while Daniel Alfredsson, the other captain, will be assisted by New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. It is no coincidence that two of the better looking players in the NHL were picked to be alternates for a made-for-TV event.

Lupul was modest when asked about the honour.

"It could have been anyone," Lupul said. "I don't know exactly what the criteria was and why they chose me, but it's an honour. I'll do it and just try to have some fun with it."

Wilson said Lupul's selection as an alternate captain will make one other player going to the game feel better.

"It's a nice little feather in his cap for the moment," Wilson said. "He's had a great year and he has been very consistent. I think the most relieved guy in the room now will be Phil Kessel. Chara was with the Bruins and they seem to give Phil a hard time and Daniel Alfredsson plays for Ottawa; one of our biggest rivals. I think Phil was worried they might get together and pass him over again. Lupes will prevent that from happening."

Kessel, of course, was the final player chosen last year. He was embarrassed about it, but received a car for being the last player selected.

HURRAY FOR THE PK: Toronto still ranks 30th in the league in penalty killing, but the Leafs have not surrendered a powerplay goal in the month of January. They are a perfect 13-for-13 playing a man down. Wilson said one key to the turnaround has been the play of goalie Jonas Gustavsson who will start against the Canadiens.

"We're aggressive," Wilson said. "And we've got some big games from The Monster when we've been shorthanded and that makes a difference when your goalie makes some saves."

"You're not going to be perfect on the penalty kill. You're going to make a mistake now and then and you need a save and we've gotten that. Also you have to give our guys credit where we've been disciplined. We haven't had too many games where we spent a lot of time killing penalties."

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.