The Toronto Maple Leafs opened their exhibition schedule with a pair of games against the archrival Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs squad that was primarily made up of the club’s projected bottom six and veterans from the AHL Marlies got off to a slow start against a top-heavy Habs group, outshooting Toronto 13-2 in the first period and taking a 2-0 lead, but the Blue and White bounced back in the middle frame, scoring three times on Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.
Henrik Rybinski, Colton Sissons, and Marc Johnstone scored for the Leafs, but Montreal tied the game 3-3 in the third, courtesy of Lane Hutson, and won 4-3 in overtime on a Cole Caufield goal. Artur Akhtyamov and Samuel Hlavaj split time at the Bell Centre.
At Scotiabank Arena, the corresponding top-heavy Leafs squad got off to a sluggish start against an undermanned Montreal group. Phillip Danault and Darren Raddysh traded second-period goals, but the Habs scored twice on backup Anthony Stolarz in the third period and added an empty-netter for a 4-1 win.
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The contest marked the first action for top overall pick Gavin McKenna, who played on the Leafs second line with John Tavares and William Nylander. McKenna showed some flashes and had three shots on goal in just over 20 minutes of ice time.
“I thought he was good,” Leafs coach Jim Hiller said about McKenna after the game. “In a game where I didn’t think there was a lot of offense from either team, he was in on three or four chances, so you’ll take that every day. It was a good start for him.”
The game also marked the debut of Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed just Danault’s tally on 11 shots, as well as the return of team captain Auston Matthews and defenseman Chris Tanev. Matthews skated with fellow Americans Matthew Knies and Jack Roslovic, and appeared unaffected by the knee injury that ended his season, playing 21:20 and assisting on the Raddysh goal. Tanev played his first game since December 28th, partnering with Jake McCabe, and blocked three shots in 18:23.
The club will do another split squad on Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena and Canadian Tire Centre.
Watch Sunday’s Leafs Convo with myself and Norman James:
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