MONTREAL — The Toronto Maple Leafs have won both NHL pre-season games against the Montreal Canadiens, bringing home a physical 2-1 win on Saturday evening at the Centre Bell.
“The group was involved and they’re competing out there, it was a really hard game,” said Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube. “I don’t really do a lot — they just go and play. They’re smart guys they know what they’re doing.”
Nicholas Robertson scored twice for the Maple Leafs, while Kirby Dach scored Montreal’s lone goal late in the third period.
Less than four minutes into the game, the raucous Centre Bell abruptly fell crowd quiet when newly acquired forward Patrik Laine collided with Cédric Paré and Jacob Quillan of the Leafs in what appeared to be a knee-on-knee hit. Laine did not return to the game.
The injury sparked retaliation from Arber Xhekaj whose actions earned him a game misconduct, leaving the Canadiens with a seven-minute penalty to kill. Including an earlier injury to David Reinbacher, the Canadiens found themselves three players short after less than five minutes.
“It was a very emotional first period and definitely set the tone for the rest of the game. You’re down to 17 players and you have a really short bench,” said Montreal head coach Martin St Louis. “You don’t want to overwork your players, but you’re almost forced to.”
Toronto capitalized on the man advantage when Robertson’s shot squeezed past netminder Samuel Montembeault. For the rest of the first frame, the Maple Leafs’ defence shone, killing off three penalties and conceding hardly any dangerous chances.
The Maple Leafs penalty kill last season left a lot to be desired, but this performance showed a concise and organized block that was perfect all evening.
“It was a special teams battle from the start of the game, and I think we executed. We scored a goal on the power play and we did really well on the (penalty kill) to shut them down and not give too many chances,” said Matthew Knies.
“It’s just constant pressure. I think we didn’t let them get set up well and if they saw something we never let them get a good opportunity from it.”
Montreal started the second period with renewed enthusiasm, committing more to the forecheck. However, rivalry and animosity grabbed the spotlight as the period was littered with scrums after nearly every whistle and two fights, leading to 73 penalty minutes between both teams by the end of the second frame.
“I think we did a good job sticking together and taking care of one another,” said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. “I think once we started playing five-on-five we showed up a lot better.
"The flow of the game was just really choppy so once we once we got to five-on-five we showed a lot of good things.”
Toronto once against shut the door in the Canadiens face during the period, allowing nine shots but killing off three penalties including a dangerous four-on-three in order to keep a 1-0 lead at the second intermission.
The Maple Leafs started the third period with much more progressive play, taking their speed to the Canadiens defencemen and finding enough space to double their lead. After a quick breakout, Robertson found himself alone with the netminder, once again firing a shot from a difficult angle but finding the five-hole.
“It’s not only the goals, it’s (Robertson’s) effort and the way he played. I though his work ethic was excellent and his competitiveness,” said Berube. “He made good decisions with the puck and hopefully he can get a couple goals for us.”
Montreal thought they had found an answer less than a minute later, but Cole Caufield was denied by an excellent sprawling save from Dennis Hildeby.
With the goalie pulled the Canadiens continued to pile on the pressure in order to find a way back into the game. They got it with less than two minutes to play after a slick passing play left Dach with a wide-open net, cutting the deficit to one.
It was too little too late for the home team, however, as the Maple Leafs held on to seal the victory.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Canadiens: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.
Elias Grigoriadis, The Canadian Press