Poehling has hat trick in NHL debut for Canadiens, who defeat Maple Leafs
via NHL.com
Ryan Poehling scored a hat trick in his NHL debut for the Montreal Canadiens in a 6-5 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre on Saturday.
Poehling scored his third goal of the game on a wrist shot from the slot to tie it at 5-5 with 2:31 left in the third period. He also scored the winning goal in the shootout for Montreal (44-30-8).
The 20-year-old center is the first Canadiens player to score three goals in his first NHL game since Alex Smart had three goals and an assist on Jan. 14, 1943.
Frederik Andersen made 44 saves for the Maple Leafs (46-28-8), who finished third in the Atlantic Division and will play the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round.
Charlie Lindgren made 44 saves in his season debut for Montreal, which was eliminated Friday.
Poehling, who scored on each of his three shots, drew the Canadiens within 2-1 at 11:41 of the first period when he redirected Jordan Weal’s pass from behind the net while he cut across the goal mouth.
Poehling tied it 2-2 at 2:56 of the second, shooting on the stick side after his deflection of Jeff Petry’s point shot hit the right post.
Weal gave Montreal a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 7:04, but Trevor Moore tied it at 3-3 at 8:47.
Andrew Shaw’s 19th goal put Montreal ahead 4-3 at 10:17, but William Nylander tied it at 4-4 at 17:33.
Kasperi Kapanen gave the Maple Leafs a 5-4 lead with his 20th goal at 8:04 of the third.
Zach Hyman gave Toronto a 1-0 lead with his 21st goal at 5:50 of the first.
Mitchell Marner got his 68th assist on Jake Gardiner’s third goal, which made it 2-0 at 8:03. Marner’s 94 points are the most by a Maple Leafs player since Mats Sundin had 94 in 1996-97.
The @MapleLeafs have recorded at least 100 points in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history. #NHLStats #HockeyNight pic.twitter.com/M7TiPD0bDp
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 7, 2019
Zach Hyman has been credited with an assist on the @MapleLeafs second goal of the game, giving him two points tonight and 41 points this season – a new single-season career-high. #LeafsForever
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) April 7, 2019