On a night where the Toronto Blue Jays held a lot of the attention in Canada, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs kicked off their respective seasons at Scotiabank Arena. It was a tight game until the dying minutes of the third period, where the Leafs put home two empty-net goals to seal a 5-2 victory in front of their home crowd.
Samuel Montembeault stood on his head to earn a 48-save shutout in last year’s 1-0 opening night win against the Leafs. If you take into consideration the results alone, you could convince yourself that last night was a step backwards for the Habs. It wasn’t.
It’s important to remember that game, how badly they were outplayed, and how brilliant their goaltender had to be for them to get a win. That was often the story in the first quarter of last season, and they didn’t start playing like a playoff team for quite some time. If this is how the Habs are going to play right out of the gate, fans should be feeling encouraged, notwithstanding last night’s result.
This is gonna be fun for many years, how fast the Habs can attack in transition with guys like Hutson and Demidov. pic.twitter.com/U2THjTETE0
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) October 9, 2025
They moved the puck far better than they did in the early goings of last season. They defended better. They looked far more polished. They lacked finish, which is something they’ll want to address in short order, but they were a favourable bounce or two away from a third period lead of their own. The Leafs got one with both Habs defenders having to play without a stick. From there, two empty-net goals made the score look a lot worse than it should have.
The scoreboard is the only thing that matters in terms of securing points in the standings, but those who follow this team know that the way they play in achieving those results is equally important.
Personally, I’ll take the way they played in a loss last night than the way their goaltender stole games in the early goings of last season. It’s a lot more sustainable, and should lead to wins.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back tonight, because for whatever reason the Habs could only play two preseason games in six days, but the regular season starts on a back-to-back.
