MONTREAL — The last time Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau played in Montreal, he scored the winning goal in Game 5 of the Canadiens’ second-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning last year.
As special as that experience was for the Quebec native, Parenteau admitted Saturday morning that scoring against the Canadiens (8-0-0) in his return with the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-3-2) would be even sweeter.
"It was a huge goal," said Parenteau. "It was awesome and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life… but, I would absolutely love to score one tonight."
Things didn’t go well for Parenteau in Montreal.
After being traded to the Canadiens from Colorado in the summer of 2014, he struggled through various injuries to find consistency, finishing the 2014-15 season with eight goals and 14 assists in 56 games. He was made a healthy scratch on several occasions and admittedly had issues with coach Michel Therrien, leading to a summer-buyout.
"Surely, I didn’t have the season I was expecting to have," said Parenteau on June 28 after the Canadiens announced they were waiving him for buyout purposes. "Because of that I can understand the Canadiens’ decision. It’s a business decision. I didn’t speak with anyone within the Canadiens organization, and Marc Bergevin never intimated to me that [a buyout] would be a possibility when we spoke at the end of the season."
When unrestricted free agency opened three days later, Parenteau was personally recruited by Toronto’s new head coach Mike Babcock, who convinced him to sign a one year, $1.5 million deal with the Leafs.
He comes into Saturday night’s game having recorded a single assist, and he scored his first goal of the season against Buffalo on Wednesday.
Parenteau and the Leafs know they’re in for a mighty challenge against hockey’s only undefeated team. Toronto has scored 17 less goals than the Canadiens have, albeit in two fewer games, but they’ve also allowed 10 more.
"I think Montreal is a good team with a good talent base," said Babcock. "I think they’ve improved. I think they’ve done a good job adding some of the players they did at the deadline last year; I think [Bergevin] has done a good job of that. They’re playing well. They got a few stars; obviously [goaltender Carey Price] is one, P.K [Subban], [Andrei] Markov’s having a good year, but up front they have some kids that have really come."
The Leafs will be without centre Tyler Bozak and defenceman Jake Gardiner, who are both back in Toronto and on the injury reserve list. As a result call-up Byron Froese will make his NHL debut up front while defenceman Martin Marincin will skate in Gardiner’s place.
"Bozak, I thought, was really playing well for us," said Babcock. "The first time we played Montreal, I think Bozak played just about every five-on-five shift against [Tomas] Plekanec."
Not having Bozak for the assignment tonight will be particularly difficult, as Babcock referred to Plekanec’s line with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher as "the best line in the National Hockey League."
Montreal’s top line combined for seven of their 26 points this season against Buffalo in Friday night’s 7-2 win.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie have combined for the most points by a line. Dallas’s Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Sharp have combined for the third-most points by a line (23).
The Canadiens arrived back in Montreal early Saturday morning and did not hold a morning skate. It’s confirmed that Price will be in to take on goaltender Jonathan Bernier.
The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET on CBC. With a win in regulation, the Canadiens would become the first team in NHL history to record nine straight regulation wins to start a season.
