- The PA announcer tries to get a “Go Leafs Go!” chant going before the opening faceoff. It doesn’t work.
First period
- The crowd isn’t in it, but the Leafs are, spending the opening few shifts in Montreal’s zone.
- An icing call if the first reprieve for Montreal over three minutes in.
- Montreal finally gets a shot on net, but then Noah Dobson gets caught trying to hold the puck in at the blue line, and Juraj Slafkovský has to hook Auston Matthews on the counter-attack to deny a dangerous shot.
- The Leafs spent two minutes passing the puck around, so Montreal survives the penalty.
- Slafkovský whips one of his cross-ice passes to Cole Caufield, and Denis Hildeby does enought to stop the puck, though I don’t think he really saw it. Just glanced off the outside of his glove.
- The Habs started playing better, and now have a power play of their own as John Tavares exits for high sticking.
- One good look for Caufield was about all they generated, and he flubbed the shot.
- Josh Anderson fires a shot on goal that Hildeby just gets a toe on.
- Montreal is really trying to send passes across the zone, but the Leafs are protecting the middle of the ice.
- Caufield speeds into the zone and decides a simple shot will have to do, firing the puck off the shoulder of Hildeby but seeing it fall right in front of the netminder for an easy freeze.
- Slafkovský gets swarmed by two Leafs trying to prevent him from making a play in the dying seconds, but he still gets the puck to Mike Matheson for one last shot.
- It was a chaotic period from both teams, but the Canadiens need to recognize that the Leafs are just standing in the middle and not try to make plays that aren’t there. Hildeby is leaving rebounds, so just make your passes off his pads instead.
Second period
- A player just got kicked out of the centre-ice faceoff to open the period. I don’t think we need to start seeing that.
- Suzuki leads a two-on-one with Caufield, but has trouble playing the puck over the blue line, then is unable to make a pass in the zone. He’s just not physically able to be his usual playmaking self.
- Montreal’s third line hemmed the Leafs’ red-hot counterpart in its own zone, and got an icing call to allow the top trio to play versus some tired defence.
- Slafkovský hit a sneaking Dobson on the backdoor play, but Dobson seemed surprised the puck actually got to him and just had the puck go off his stick. They don’t all realize how good Slafkovský has become at completing those difficult passes.
- Outside of one shift following an icing call, Montreal has been the much better team in this period.
- Joe Veleno gets tripped to draw a call, but he still made a pass to Jared Davidson for a shot that he rocketed over the net.
- Now Scotiabank Arena comes to life as the Habs fans celebrate Caufield’s power-play goal off a pass from Ivan Demidov (and a minor deflection from Slafkovský).
Beautiful pass from Ivan Demidov to Cole Caufield on the back door, and the #Habs lead 1-0
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 9:32 PM
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- Zachary Bolduc gets sent in on a breakaway, and Hildeby makes a massive glove save to keep his team trailing by just one goal. You know it’s a good play when the crowd cheers.
- William Nylander drops to the ice in front of Dobson, and Kelly Sutherland swallows the bait. Nylander might get a message from the league about that one. I think Sutherland looked up at the replay, and knows he made a bad call.
- So he makes up for it during the power play by calling John Tavares for cross-checking Matheson in front of the net.
- The brief power play preserves the momentum Montreal had built up before the calls, and they go right back to work.
- That may have been one of the best periods the Canadiens have played all season, outshooting Toronto 13-3. They can win a lot of games playing just like that.
Third period
- Toronto comes out hard looking for the tying goal.
- The Canadiens are just trying to survive this burst right now.
- They do survive the push, and now it’s just a game of trading possessions.
- Montreal gets a great chance as Kapanen collects the puck and send it out in front to Alexandre Texier, but the Frenchman is denied.
- You know Berube will load up a line and really push here soon, so it would be ideal for Montreal to add a second goal before then.
- With 15 shots would 48 minutes of play, the Leafs will now have to kill a penalty for too many men. A real chance at that all-important insurance.
- Slafkovský just made a Selke Trophy-calibre defensive play to attack the lead man on a developing two-on-one break.
- Dobson does the one thing the Canadiens couldn’t do on the power play: allow a short-handed breakaway. Scott Laughton scores to tie the game. Dobson needs to be smarter in that situation and retreat at the first sign of danger.
- Dobeš makes an incredible stop off his face as Dakota Joshua accepts a pass at the top of the crease from behind the net. That may have saved Montreal a point.
- Arber Xhekaj fans on a puck in the offensive zone to allowing the Leafs to head up the ice, and will end the shift with a hooking penalty.
- Is this short-handed situation where Josh Anderson scores his goal against the Maple Leafs?
- Zero shots for the Leafs as Montreal once again held them to the perimeter.
- Both teams appear happy to have the point, and the clocks drains to send the game to overtime.
Overtime
- Toronto takes the first possession.
- Montreal gets a possessions after 2:10.
- Slafkovský gets a great chance after the transition from Hutson.
- A two-on-zero develops the other way, but Dobeš makes the save.
- Domi steals the puck on the boards, but Toronto can’t capitalize on the three-on-one.
- Matheson pokes the puck away from Laughton just as he’s about to drag it across the crease to his forehand.
- Matheson gets the puck right at the top of the crease and Hildeby needs to make a nice save.
- Suzuki and Matheson gets one last shot each, but we’re going to a shootout for the second consecutive game.
Shootout
- Nylander goes first. He stays on his feet, but is denied by Dobeš’s.
- Caufield glides in and effortlessly picks the blocker-side top corner.
- Matthews scores on the backhand through Dobeš’s five-hole.
- Texier makes a great deke and goes five-hole with one hand. Impressive.
- Tavares is stopped, and Dobeš earns another win, improving his personal record to
- With other results today, the Canadiens are now one point out of the division lead, and can take it with a win over the St. Louis Blues tomorrow.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Apply it to the season to date
2) They won’t always see these superheroes in net
1) They seem to be figuring things out at an important time
