Maple Leafs slide continues as Canadiens skate to 4-3 victory

The last time the Montreal Canadiens were in Toronto it was P.K. Subban who left the ice after the final horn yelling a four letter expletive in a loss.

On Saturday night, it was Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer venting his frustration in the tunnel post-game as the Leafs fell 4-3 in a key matchup against the Canadiens at the Air Canada Center.

Montreal entered play three points ahead of Toronto in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Reimer allowed the game winner just over the mid-way point of the third when Tomas Plekanec broke a 3-3 deadlock at 11:14.

The scoring play transpired as a goalie interference minor to James van Riemsdyk had expired and defenseman Dion Phaneuf was unable to clear the puck to kill the final seconds of the penalty.

Reimer did not come across his crease in time to stop Plekanec, who was set up at the bottom of the right circle on a nice cross-ice pass from Andrei Markov.

The puck went in off of Reimer's leg, just inches from the near post.

"I came across and it just kind of felt that I (was) stuck when I went to slide across and then I was kind of off balance a bit," Reimer said. " Obviously they made a good play to put it through the seam."

Reimer, who had ceded the No. 1 goaltending duties to Jonathan Bernier this season, has been pressed back into full time action over the past five games since Bernier went down with a lower body injury in the first period of a game against the LA Kings on March 13.

He played very well in relief over the final two periods that night, making 31 stops en route to a 3-2 Maple Leafs victory. But since then, the blue and white have dropped four in a row and Reimer has been in net for all of those loses.

By no means does the blame squarely rest on his shoulders, but he has not made things easy on himself as was evident on Saturday where he allowed a soft goal to Rene Bourque 65 seconds after surrendering the opening goal to Max Pacioretty at 5:47 of the first period to give the Canadiens an early 2-0 lead.

To boot, the focus on the soft spoken netminder has increased since his agent Ray Petkau tweeted about how his client had been hung out to dry following a 3-2 loss to the Red Wings on March 18.

Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle said Bernier will not make the trip to New Jersey where Toronto will be play on Sunday evening.

None of this adds up to a good scenario for the Maple Leafs who are in a free fall in the Eastern Conference playoff race with just 10 games left in their regular season.

While they still hold the first wild card berth with 78 points, they are now just one point up on the Detroit Red Wings (who have two games in hand) and Washington Capitals.

"What's done is done, as I said, that one stings," said Mason Raymond, who recorded two assists and was shuffled through the second, third and fourth lines along with Nikolai Kulemin as Colton Orr played just 2:32. "At the end of the day, we gotta get ready for Jersey now and those are another 2 huge points up for grabs."

Raymond, whose last multi-point game came at home against Montreal on Jan., 18, set up Joffrey Lupul's 2oth goal of the season at 11:02 of the first period to get the home side on the board.

It is the fifth time the 30-year-old has scored 20 or more goals in a season.

The Canadiens would carry a 3-2 lead into the third period after the two sides traded goals to close out the opening 20 minutes and no one lit the lamp in the second period.

The Maple Leafs tied the game at 2:39 of the third when Raymond made a nice pass behind the goal line to Joffrey Lupul who fed Nazem Kadri from behind the Canadiens net.

Saturday marked the return of forward Dave Bolland to the Toronto lineup after missing 56 games recovering from a severed ankle tendon.

Carlyle said he didn't expect Bolland to play more than 10 minutes in his first game back.

Bolland played 9:01 and said he "felt great". He finished with 3 hits and a -1 rating.

Meanwhile the Canadiens have won three of their last four games since a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory against the Ottawa Senators last Saturday in which they erased a three- goal deficit with under four minutes remaining in the third period.

With Tampa Bay's OT loss to the Penguins earlier in the day, Montreal is still in third place in the Atlantic Division but just one point back of the second place Lightning.

Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien has been pleased with the focus of his players down the stretch run, saying, "At this time of the year, you need to play with a playoff mindset and our mindset is like that."

Follow Neil Acharya on Twitter: @Neil_Acharya