Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews celebrates after scoring the overtime winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens, in Toronto, on Oct. 3, 2018.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
If someone saw just the scoresheet and not the game from the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Wednesday night 3-2 overtime win that opened the NHL season, they would have thought it was a magical night.
John Tavares scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf after signing that big contract. Auston Matthews scored two goals, including the winner at 1:01 of overtime, to knock off the rival Montreal Canadiens. Matthews has now scored in all three of his NHL season-openers with a total of seven goals. And Nazem Kadri, the third centre on what is considered the league’s deepest team up the middle, had two assists.
Well, not so fast. The 19,589 fans went home happy all right, but the Leafs, who have been hearing all summer how they are going to cruise to a Stanley Cup, knew they were lucky to pull the rug out from under the visitors. The Canadiens came into the evening hearing nothing but how they were simply roadkill for the go-go Leafs. But over regulation time they were the faster team, the scrappier team and the hardest workers.
They also had goaltender Carey Price back in top form after an off-season in 2017-18. He turned away the Leafs when they did manage to mount a challenge. The Leafs were also lucky their goaltender, Frederik Andersen, was just as good. He made 34 saves in regulation to get them into overtime.
“Kind of an ugly win for us,” Matthews said. “They kind of outworked us most of the game, had us back on our heels. [There is] a lot we can learn from it.”
Leafs head coach Mike Babcock thought so, too.
“This is a different kind of team with a different set of expectations,” Babcock said of his players. “You know when you’re really scared? It’s easy to work hard. When you’re not as scared, it’s not as easy to work hard. Hopefully that’ll put a little scare in us.”
A few hours before the game, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan decided to send a message.
“When I get together with some of my old mates from the Cup years in Detroit, we talk about winning together and growing together; that’s what we remember,” Shanahan said. “At end of day, we all found a way to fit with each other so we could keep adding to the group. That’s obviously what we’re asking some of our young leaders to do.”
It was a not-so-subtle warning to holdout forward William Nylander that he should lower his contract demands and think about the team and how it can fit all these young stars under the salary cap. While this was a bit rich coming from Shanahan, who never hesitated to press his advantage in contract negotiations when he was a player, he might want to include the rest of the team in the message after that effort.
For the Leafs did not exactly come out flying. They were held to a walk much of the night, when they weren’t giving the puck away, by Price and a determined Canadiens team. If not for Andersen, that would have been a loss in regulation.
“Yeah, we’ve got to be way better for him,” Matthews said of the Leafs’ goaltender. “He made a lot of saves, too many. We didn’t really take care of the puck. They had a lot of Grade-A chances. He gave us an opportunity and we were fortunate to come away with two points.”
Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw scored for the Canadiens while Max Domi, the son of former Leaf Tie Domi, set up both goals.
The Maple Leafs talked a good game at the morning skate, going on about how they were just as excited about the start of the season as the fans but mindful of keeping their attention on what was necessary to beat the Canadiens.
“Obviously, everyone’s excited; not just our group in our locker room but around the city,” Tavares said a few hours before his first home-opener as a Maple Leaf. “We’re going to go out there tonight and give our best effort. I still get the same butterflies I got in my first year and first game. Obviously it’s different. But every new season is obviously a fresh start.
“For me [the goal is to] try to control your energy as best you can and just focus on what you have to do to be successful. Obviously, it should be a fun environment tonight and fun to play in.”
But by the time Lehkonen scored on a wraparound that bounced off Leaf goaltender Frederik Andersen’s glove midway through the first period to put Montreal ahead 1-0, the Canadiens held a 7-1 edge in shots on goal. The high-powered Leafs simply could not get the puck out of their own end.
The Leafs finally got into the game thanks to their power play, which is expected to be an unstoppable force this season considering all the stars are on the first unit. The second unit actually started the first power play midway through the first period and produced a couple of good scoring chances.
Then the loaded first unit came on and lived up to its billing. Tavares, Matthews, Kadri and company moved the puck around at will and then Morgan Rielly spotted Matthews alone in the left faceoff circle. Matthews took the pass and got a laser off so quickly to the top corner Price had no time to get set.
It was such a shot that Price took a good long look at the replay on the scoreboard video screen to be sure of what he just saw. Matthews gave an intense fist-pump to celebrate, probably because his shot-release was something he spent a lot of time on over the summer.
From this point on, the Leafs played better in spurts but the Canadiens did not bend easily. Much of this was thanks to Price, who appears to have regained his all-world skills. He was outstanding, frustrating the Leafs time after time.
Down at the other end, Andersen was just as good, covering up several of his teammates’ defensive mistakes.
The Leafs finally took a 2-1 lead on Tavares’ goal with two minutes left in the second period. He made a nifty move to get around Habs centre Matthew Peca, moved into the high slot and scored on a shot to the top corner as the crowd went wild.
However, the Leafs quickly squandered the lead when they were caught standing around on a Montreal power play. Andrew Shaw put a shot just under the crossbar to tie the score 2-2 heading into the third period.
Then it was a hard ride to overtime through the third period as Andersen made 15 saves to get the Leafs there.