via NHL.com
Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game 1:01 into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
Matthews took a pass from Patrick Marleau in the slot and shot past goalie Carey Price’s blocker to win it.
John Tavares, who signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent July 1, scored in his Toronto debut. Frederik Andersen made 34 saves for the Maple Leafs.
Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw scored for Montreal. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, had an assist in his NHL debut for the Canadiens, and Price made 23 saves.
Tavares gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead at 18:07 of the second period when he cut into the slot and shot past Price’s blocker. The Canadiens tied it 2-2 with 14 seconds left in the period when Shaw one-timed a pass from Max Domi in the slot on the power play.
The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at 9:34 of the first period when Lehkonen banked a shot off Andersen from behind the net.
Matthews tied it 1-1 on the power play at 12:57 when he put a wrist shot over Price’s glove from the left face-off dot.
Tavares on reaction from fans tonight: "It was tremendous to have that type of welcoming from this fan base & this city, pretty special. I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity & just want to take advantage of it & give it everything I got & hope to make them proud."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 4, 2018
Auston Matthews asked about Brendan Shanahan's comments earlier today & the idea of taking a hometown discount to keep Leafs core together:
"That's why we got agents, right. So, we'll let them figure that out, talk to management & we'll stay out of it & just play hockey."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 4, 2018