The Toronto Maple Leafs saw two huge returns at practice as they look towards a must-win game against Montreal in their first of back-to-back games this weekend.
Coming into a tough stretch of games where they play five times in eight nights, the Toronto Maple Leafs need as much firepower as possible to weather the storm that is coming.
Montreal is the first test on Saturday before they head up against New Jersey on Sunday then intense games against Minnesota, Colorado, and Edmonton. But they need to come out against the Canadiens hot so that they have enough momentum to carry them through their latest gruelling stretch.
Toronto gets heavy backup in their clash against the Habs
Thankfully though, the team is going to have a couple of key reinforcements back in the lineup and they couldn't have come at a better time.
Both John Tavares and Jack Roslovic were seen at practice and participating fully after dealing with their ailments, and look set to play against the Canadiens on Saturday and focused on securing a win:
Cowan - Matthews - Roslovic
Tavares - Paul - Nylander
Joshua - Sissons - McKenna
Duhaime - Blueger - MacEwen
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Tanev
Ekman-Larsson - Stecher
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
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Interestingly, Tavares was not lined up in his typical 2C but instead on the left wing, where Gavin McKenna went down to the third and Vinni Lettieri is the extra man this time around.
Roslovic finds himself back on the first line and he's been blazing hot as of late, so it's good to know his injury was indeed nothing more than just a maintenance day.
Toronto's lineup needs to find a way to synergize quickly
With the returns of the two forwards, the team is going to need them to get acclimated again quickly. For Roslovic that won't be an issue because he hasn't missed games, just practice.
But Tavares needs to make sure he isn't a step or two behind, and seeing that he's in a brand new spot on the wing may make things even more of a challenge.
Luckily he has a ton of support with Nick Paul and William Nylander, but he can't rely on them solely and needs to show that he can contribute right away as opposed to needing a few games to get comfortable.
If Roslovic and Tavares come supplement the rest of the lineup and get ahead of the Canadiens, they might come away with a much-needed win and even more importantly - momentum.
Do you think John Tavares and Jack Roslovic's returns will help the Maple Leafs vs. Montreal?
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