TORONTO — In the two weeks since these clubs last met, much had seemingly changed for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The tides had shifted.

Riding a stretch of six losses in seven games heading into that tilt with the Montreal Canadiens two Saturdays ago, the Maple Leafs found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-2 shellacking, their Atlantic rivals handing them yet another L. Then came the turnaround. A gutty overtime win in Columbus. A minor setback in Washington, followed by a string of three promising road wins that saw Toronto outscore their hosts 16-4 all told.

Before the dust had settled on the last of those tilts, the Maple Leafs were already looking ahead to this one.

“We needed this. We needed that energy, and we’re just going to try to bring that home,” Matthew Knies said Thursday ni

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