Top Six Minutes: A Habs comeback win to start the season

It’s always quiet in Scotiabank Arena, but this crowd noise for a home-opener is something else.

First period

Forty-eight seconds in William Nylander gives the building some life with a shot that goes over Jakub Dobeš’s glove and under the bar. Nick Suzuki got beat by Nylander’s fake at the blue line, leaving him all alone to walk in to the faceoff dot where Noah Dobson was too passive in his defence.
I guess we’re still doing the comeback thing.
Montreal’s first shot of the game is a shovelled wrister to the far side by Chris Kreider that glances off Bobrovsky’s arm.
The Canadiens just don’t look like they were ready to play this game, and that’s a carryover from last season. They need to fix that immediately.
Jayden Struble gets hooked, and now the Canadiens will go to the power play. Let’s hope it’s not also the 2025-26 version that passes without shooting.
Speedier setups lead to a couple of chances. We do have to give the Maple Leafs some credit for their defence to begin this game as well. It’s much less porous than the last few seasons.
The power play doesn’t get it done, but a great effort from Kirby Dach wins the puck at the side of the net. The puck ends up coming to the net and bouncing up in the air, and Josh Anderson bunts in Montreal’s first goal of the season.

Ivan Demidov has his momentum stalled on the backcheck at centre ice, and has to hook Auston Matthews to prevent a three-on-two.
The penalty kill is provided more resistance at the blue line, not just letting the Leafs skate in and set up.
It took them a while to get going, but Montreal is carrying momentum from shift to shift now, and forcing icings.
Arber Xhekaj makes a nice move to pull the puck along the boards in front of him and escape out the other side, bringing a quick end to that defensive-zone shift.
Shots started out 7-1 Toronto, but end up 11-10 Toronto after 20 minutes. Forty more minutes like the final seven or eight of first and Montreal will be fine.

Kirill Marchenko attempts to give Toronto another hot start, but Dobeš makes a great glove save on his one-time shot.
Zachary Bolduc gets a pass from Jake Evans right in the slot, but Bobrovsky makes a blocker stop.
Bolduc goes to the other side a couple of shifts later, and Bobrovsky can’t react fast enough to stop this one.

Montreal has the Leafs back to icing the puck. Toronto hasn’t responded well to either goal against.
Anderson battles with Jake McCabe in the corner and wins the puck back to Lane Hutson. Hutson sends a shot from the blue line that glances off the crossbar and out.
Montreal spends a long shift in the defensive zone, but Phillip Danault did well playing as both a forward and a defenceman to ensure his team survived unscathed.
The first real moment of animosity comes when Alex Newhook and McCabe exchange crosschecks in the slots. They’ll both go off to send the game to four-on-four.
A quick poke of the puck by Ivan Demidov sends him up the ice on a rush for a shot. That breaks a couple of consecutive shifts of momentum for Toronto.
Any chance to build momentum is immediately spoiled by Cole Caufield tripping Colton Sissons off the offensive-zone faceoff.
A quality penalty kill by the Canadiens will see out their period with them still holding a 2-1 lead.

Another scoring chance for the Leafs’ second line, with Nylander firing a shot just wide. Montreal hasn’t been able to match their level on their opening shift of any period.
Nylander once again gets some space down the right wing and tries to replicate his first-period goal, but Dobeš snags the puck.
Evans drives right across the top of the crease and draws a tripping call. The power play can give Montreal a bit of breathing room.
Slafkovsky fires a shot and catches Bobrovsky off his line, but the puck goes off the post.
Alexandre Texier decides to pin a man on the boards instead of getting back to play a loose puck in his zone, and he’ll sit for interference. I think he’ll sit for Florian on Saturday as well.
The aggressive penalty kill is really doing the trick so far. It has to be more fun for the players than standing around occupying lanes.
Alexandre Carrier was a key part of the penalty kill versus Toronto’s top unit, and he makes an impression at the other end a few minutes later. He gets the puck at the blue and sifts one towards Bobrovsky. It’s the second point shot the goaltender hasn’t picked up in this game, and this one goes in the net to put Montreal up two goals.

Toronto’s best player reduces the lead back to two. William Nylander completes a give-and-go with Easton Cowan in the low slot to score his second of the night.
Toronto pushes, but hasn’t managed to turn anything into a dangerous chance in several minutes.
Montreal keeps the puck out of their zone in the final minute, even if it does require a couple of icings. They earn a faceoff of Toronto’s side of centre with just 9.4 seconds to go.
The clock expires. Dobeš doesn’t like Tavares’s stick in his arm at the final whistle and pulls it away. Tavares gives Dobeš a shove. There’s a bit of a fracas, but eventually the Canadiens surround Dobeš to celebrate another win to open his season slate.
The schedule-maker decided the Habs needed three days off after their opener, so they’ll be back in action on Saturday in Pittsburgh.

3) I predict it will be neck-and-neck between him and Alexandre Carrier

2) It’s all those centuries of experience

1) This is how you know hockey season has officially begun