Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson will miss Saturday's game against the Montreal Canadiens due to an undisclosed injury.

"Day to day," said coach Craig Berube when asked about Ekman-Larsson's status. "He’ll be evaluated. You never know, I mean, he’s a tough guy, but he won’t be playing tomorrow."

Ekman-Larsson logged more than 25 minutes during Wednesday's 4-3 win in Tampa Bay, but the 33-year-old fell awkwardly during his final shift in overtime. He was not on the ice for Friday's practice.

The Leafs, who are already without defenceman Jake McCabe (undisclosed) and centre David Kampf (upper body), will be forced to play a man short against Montreal, because they do not have enough salary cap space (only $195,332 per PuckPedia.com) to call up someone from the American Hockey League.

"Maybe I’ll suit up and play back there," Berube cracked with a smile.

After playing a man short in one game, the Leafs will be allowed to make an emergency recall for Sunday's game in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes - although the player being called up can't make more than $875,000. Dakota Mermis ($775,000 cap hit) and Marshall Rifai ($775,000) are options with the Marlies.

But for Saturday's game, Toronto will have just five defencemen in the lineup as they look to take another step toward finishing first in the Atlantic Division.

"It’s always challenging," said Berube, "but we played games where we’ve lost a [defenceman] early in a game and you play with five. It’s important that our forwards do a good job of helping our D out tomorrow night and making sure that they get back for break outs and things like that and make the game as easy on them as possible. That’s a big thing, and not getting extended shifts in the D-zone and tiring your defence out. That will be a big part of the game."

Simon Benoit, who has played almost exclusively on the third pair this season, will move up and slot in beside Chris Tanev. Benoit is a team-leading plus-seven in the last five games.

"We’re pretty good defensively so that would be a good shutdown pair," Benoit told TSN. " I’m excited for that. [Tanev’s] a good player. He blocks every single shot out there. Just give him the puck, let him break out the puck and (laughs)........

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