Inconsistent Offense vs. Pourous Defense: Canadiens vs. Leafs

The rivalry between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens has been the oldest and most bitter rivalry in the history of the National Hockey League, but tonight's match may not be a classic in the series as Montreal's inconsistent offense attacks Toronto's inconsistent defense.

Both Toronto and Montreal played Buffalo and lost their last games before meeting tonight to renew their ancient rivalry.

Buffalo beat Toronto by a score of 5-0 and Buffalo beat Montreal by a score of 3-2, so Montreal should be able to beat Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 19-24-9 and the Montreal Canadiens are 29-17-6.

The Canadiens are playing without Robert Lang, their top-scoring forward, who is out after Achilles' tendon surgery.

Montreal is 17-5-4 at home this season and averaging 3.3 goals.

Toronto's 3.58 team goals-against average ranks last in the league.

On Wednesday's loss at Buffalo, the team managed just 16 shots on goal.

The Leafs 2-2-1 since the All-Star break, but they've allowed at least four goals in all five games, giving up a total of 23 over that span.

Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski and Montreal's Sergei Kostitsyn, former Belarusian teammates, have been fighting via the media and are expected to take it further tonight.