A big night in Toronto sports.

This game generally lacked the level of competitive fire or physical intensity you might expect — or at least hope for — in a season opener between the Leafs and Habs, but it did get off to a hot start for the Leafs.

A couple of good shifts by the top six — Matias Maccelli set up Jake McCabe for a good look, William Nylander found Morgan Rielly at the backpost off the rush for another — led to an offensive-zone faceoff for the McMann-Tavares-Nylander line. A draw won by Tavares led to Nylander funnelling a puck to the net with McMann at the net front for a tip past Samuel Montembeault. The Leafs‘ first goal of the 2025-26 season went to a player who was controversially scratched the previous season opener in McMann, who was the team’s best player in the first period, along with Rielly.

The Leafs went to a power-play opportunity five minutes into the game, up 1-0 — a good chance to build on a fast start — and badly bungled it. Auston Matthews was casual when defending a rush against for a shorthanded scoring chance, and not long after, Nylander and Matthews didn’t connect in the neutral zone for a sloppy turnover, leading to a shorthanded rush against and Oliver Kapanen’s first-ever NHL goal.

The game settled into a pretty evenly-matched (and sloppy at times) battle at five-on-five for most of the night, but the second period got off to a rough start for the Leafs. Defending an entry at the defensive-zone blue line, Oliver Ekman-Larsson batted a puck across the ice for a turnover and was beaten back to the front of the net by the eventual goal-scorer (Zack Bolduc), although Anthony Stolarz would’ve liked to have blockered the initial shot clear of danger instead of spilling it right out in front of his crease.

The game wasn’t in a good spot for the Leafs for a few minutes, but Rielly continued his massive season-opening performance with a strong rush/attack through the middle that led to a net-front scramble sequence from the Lorentz-Roy-Jarnkrok line. After a Rielly point shot was tipped by Jarnkrok and blocked down, Jarnkrok tracked it well and got off a quick release that beat Montembeault through the legs before the Montreal goaltender could get down into the butterfly.

Neither team gained a stranglehold or really tilted the ice for extended stretches in this game at five-on-five, but the Leafs found their breakthrough by capitalizing on Mike Matheson’s broken stick at the offensive blue line (and Lane Hutson dropping his stick) nine minutes into the third period. Matias Maccelli was poised in possession in sending Knies away on a breakaway, and Knies — after a quiet first two periods — stopped/stayed on the puck really well after failing to convert initially, setting up the trailing Rielly for a much-deserved game-winning goal by the game’s first star, #44.

The Leafs allowed just six shots on goal in the third period. While they certainly didn’t have their sharpest stuff throughout the game when it came to their possession play (or power play), they did show they have the reliable defensive structure — and goaltender — to lean on. Two empty netters — one a nicely-weighted area pass from Nylander for a Matthews finish, another Nylander took down the ice himself — sealed a 5-2 win to start the season and the Leafs’ ninth victory over the Habs in their last 10 meetings.

Post-Game Notes

– We have to begin with Morgan Rielly. After all of the talk about his big offseason, he delivered big time in the season opener with a game-winning goal, a primary assist on a 2-2 tying goal he was instrumental in creating, five shots on goal, and nine individual shot attempts (the next highest Leafs recorded four) in nearly 21 minutes of ice time. He could’ve scored a hat trick, including two great looks in the first period, in particular. The hope was that he would look a step faster and more offensively involved/assertive this season without forcing it or giving up too much the other way in the process; it’s one game, but it was a dream start in this regard. So much of the focus has been on replacing the lost production over the offseason, and a lot of the attention has naturally been placed on the forward group, but Rielly’s 40 points from last season were circled as one area where there is plenty more juice to squeeze in 2025-26. Great start.

– Calle Jarnkrok has been excluded from a lot of lineup projections and traded many times over in the offseason discourse, but here he was scoring a big goal and moving up the lineup to protect the lead alongside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies late on. Jarnkrok’s line with Roy and Lorentz was the Leafs’ second-best at five-on-five — behind the Tavares line — and it effectively became the team’s third line based on TOI. Craig Berube didn’t shy away from using them in a decent chunk of minutes against the Suzuki line, including multiple defensive-zone draws.

Nic Roy won 56% of his faceoffs, was solid on the PK (which went 2-for-2), and flashed a nice glimpse of why he’s a little more than just a safe, nothing-happens-out-there-with-him-on-the-ice checking center. With eight minutes to go in the third, he made a nice move to beat a defender one-on-one off the rush and slid it over to Jarnkrok for a good look.

– As for the top line… a work in progress, is the generous way to put it tonight. The first shift of the game was promising, but Knies-Matthews-Maccelli didn’t record a shot on goal until 13 minutes into the second period, Matthews didn’t record a shot on goal period outside of his empty-netter, and the line lost the territorial battle inside the Suzuki matchup. Even when Berube got them looks away from Suzuki, there wasn’t much happening for the line offensively. Berube moved Domi up to the L1 RW spot to end the second period (and for a spell in the third), but they spent the shift in their own end.

– Bobby McMann went flying out of the gates, scoring on his first shift and frequently stressing the Habs by stretching the ice with his speed and attacking the net. Stylistically, he is clearly the best fit for Nylander’s opposite wing, as the two can really threaten in transition and off the rush with their combined speed, and McMann provides an effective net front and forechecking presence when he’s committed to the role. The Tavares line doubled up the Habs in shot attempts in their five-on-five minutes, tripled them in shots on goal (9-3), and was the most consistent threat from the Leafs’ perspective.

– Nick Robertson was at the bottom of the forward group in TOI at 10:40, and the line that was cobbled together after preseason with Dakota Joshua and Max Domi didn’t gel immediately. Robertson and Domi did have separate looks in tight that they didn’t convert, and Robertson threw a solid hit along the wall in the defensive zone in the third period. The familiarity between Robertson and Domi from last season is notable, but whether this line has any staying power whatsoever is highly debatable. McMann-Domi-Robertson didn’t last or represent a real option in games that mattered last season, despite some fun offensive outbursts against inferior opposition in the regular season, and Joshua is a clear downgrade on McMann. Additionally, while the options aren’t plentiful in terms of right shots, Robertson playing the RW remains suboptimal; he often looks awkward there and seems to naturally gravitate to the left side on the attack, where and when he can.

– Easy to take them for granted at this point, but Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev led the defense in time on ice by a wide margin (23-24 minutes), blocked six shots between them, and kept a clean sheet despite starting just two of their 15 faceoffs in the offensive zone (Tanev was on for the second Habs goal, but he was on the ice with OEL and wasn’t to blame). The continuity on the blue line from last season was clear to see, as all three pairings were reasonably steady together.

– Go Jays Go!

Game Highlights: Maple Leafs 5 vs. Canadiens 2

Goal scorers: Bobby McMann, Calle Jarnkrok, Morgan Rielly, Auston Matthews (EN), William Nylander (EN)

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