- A new season begins. The aim is to get this one off to a good start.
- Fans in Toronto sound moderately excited for the start of a new season.
First period
- Nick Suzuki wins the opening faceoff, and the season is under way.
- The puck pops right out to the front of the net for Jake McCabe, but Samuel Montembeault makes his first save.
- Then a second as Morgan Rielly accepts a cross-ice pass from William Nylander.
- Not a third as Bobby McMann tips the puck in off Nylander’s shot to open the scoring.
- A good answer shift from the top line and the Mike Matheson-Noah Dobson pairing. Lots of creativity and a couple of scoring chances.
- After drawing call in the pre-season, Patrik Laine takes the first one of Montreal’s with a hook of Chris Tanev’s hands.
- Josh Anderson, playing his favourite opponent, gets the first chance of the power play by going to the slot for a backhand shot.
- Oliver Kapane follows up on the next unit. He shields the puck on a rush of his own and solves Anthony Stolarz to tie the game. It’s his first NHL goal.
Oliver Kapanen with the shorthanded snipe for his first NHL goal!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM
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- Alex Newhook just missed the net as he and Kapanen broke away again. These are dangerous four-on-five units.
- Juraj Slafkovský seems to have a softer touch on the puck so far. He must have done some of those egg-passing drills in the off-season.
- Nylander catches Kaiden Guhle with a high stick, and now we see what the other special-teams situation looks like.
- Not many looks a power play that couldn’t find a lane to get the puck through.
- More evidence of Slafkovsky’s soft touch as he saucers the puck over a defender’s stick to Hutson at the blue line.
- Montreal is the better team by a bit of a margin in this game, but their passing and defending in the neutral zone can still use work.
- After about 10 minutes of nothing, the Leafs generate a chance with one second to go, but Montembeault gets a piece.
- So a poor opening minute and a hairy final five seconds, but the rest was very good from Montreal.
Second period
- Demidov makes his first good play of the game but shifting around a defenceman to get a shot on net.
- Zachary Bolduc follows up Brendan Gallagher’s shot, pulls the stick off Stolarz’s pads, and makes it 2-1.
Brendan Gallagher with the shot and Zack Bolduc cleans up the rebound! 2-1 Habs
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 9:25 PM
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- Not a first NHL goal, but a first Habs goal for Bolduc.
- An even fancier move from Demidov out of the corner results in another chance. He’s starting to feel it.
- The Canadiens are looking great in this second period. The Leafs can only lunge at the puck as it gets zipped around.
- And then Toronto comes out and ties the game.
- The Leafs were looking at a two-on-one, and, thanks to Hutson, two seconds later Montreal was in on a chance.
- Laine made a good play to pick the puck away from the side of the net. He found Jake Evans open, but Evans opted to pass. A missed chance there, and there have been a few of those tonight.
- I think Cole Caufield just slipped on his shot-blocker and that spoiled a potential two-on-one.
- Matheson gets spun around by Matthew Knies on the forecheck, and it’s another Canadiens power play. Hopefully with a few more shots.
- Montreal spent almost the full two minutes in the zone, but the Leafs defending well to limit the top unit to a couple of looks.
- Thanks to Evans, we saw another defensive to offensive play in the span of a couple of seconds.
- Another good period from Montreal they lead in shots 22-19, but could have easily taken that number to 26 or more if they weren’t looking to pass so often.
Third period
- I think William Nylander is the only player on this Leafs team a defence really needs to be worried about. Auston Matthews will score goals, but Nylander is the creator.
- A “Let’s Go Blue Jays!” chant has gone up at Scotiabank Arena. That doesn’t usually happen until April.
- Ivan Demidov reads the Leafs breakout attempt well and lifts the stick of Max Domi to try to win the puck, but gets called for hooking.
- Montreal penalty kill held the Leafs to zero shots despite two minutes of zone time.
- Both Matheson and Hutson lose their sticks, and that’s just an unfair three-on-two down low against two players unable to defend. It’s 3-2 Toronto.
- Just bad luck that gets punished after a very good shift from Montreal.
- Demidov drops to a knee and fires a 100 mph shot about three feet over the net.
- Slafkovský takes another shot and has it go off Stolarz’s shoulder. He has six in this game.
- Dobson fires through a Caufield screen for Montreal’s 30th shot of the night. The Habs averaged 25.6 per game last season.
- Matthews outskates Laine to a puck curling just wide of Montreal’s empty net, and it will be a 4-2 finish.
- Make it a 5-2 finish as Nylander adds another empty-netter. Let them build up a false sense of confidence from this scoreline, because this wasn’t a 5-2 game.
- Montreal deserved a lot better from this game, but the only complaint I have is that they could have had even more than the 30 shots they finished with.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) The Finnish finish
2) He’s a completely different player
1) I think he will be happy with tonight’s effort
