Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies both unable to play tonight in Montreal

After some promising regular seasons in recent years, the Toronto Maple Leafs underwent plenty of change this summer, and now, we're already seeing the differences that can make.

Through 21 games, the Maple Leafs sit at 9-9-3 with 21 overall points, putting them in 15th place in the Eastern Conference, and now, the injury issues are seemingly piling up.

On Saturday, it gets much, much worse, as the team remain without captain Auston Matthews, with a report from Marco D'Amico revealing that Matthew Knies will also miss the key matchup against the rival Montreal Canadiens.

As a result, the top line will include William Nylander, John Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok, and while it's only a short-term absence, the lineup beyond that looks questionable at best, so this team desperately needs to get healthy soon.

That's the last thing this team needed, as they have struggled for consistency at both ends of the ice recently, and with Nicholas Roy and Anthony Stolarz both still out, these issues may become more than this team can overcome.

There are positives, as both are on the ice for Toronto at practice, and while they won't play tonight, that bodes well for their chances to return to the ice soon for a struggling Maple Leafs team.

In this one, they face a Canadiens team that are also struggling as they've dropped seven of their last eight games, and with both teams desperate for a win, even with the injuries, they'll both be hopeful they can put together a good performance in this one.