Game 64: Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens

Tavares breaks tie in 3rd to help Maple Leafs edge Canadiens

John Tavares scored the go-ahead goal with 6:46 remaining in the third period for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Tavares pushed the puck over the line from the left edge of the crease at 13:14 after battling for position with Tanner Pearson.

“They came out with a lot of jump, a lot of energy,” said Tavares, who reached the 20-goal mark for the 14th time in his 15 NHL seasons. “They got the start they wanted, certainly not what we wanted, but I liked how we just stayed with it. You know, offensively, it hasn’t been the greatest week for us. Things haven’t been clicking as well as we’d like, but I just like the way we stayed with it and found a way to earn the opportunities that we got and made the most of them.”

Max Domi had a goal and an assist, and Bobby McMann scored for the Maple Leafs (37-19-8), who have won four of their past six. Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves.

“First of all, a lot of credit to the Habs,” Domi said. “They came out flying and I don’t think we were at the best of our game early on, but we found a way to stick with it. [Samsonov] was great, the PK was great tonight and we capitalized on our chances tonight. A lot of resilience tonight, showed a lot of character, it was a huge win.”

Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist, Alex Newhook scored and Juraj Slafkovsky had two assists for the Canadiens (24-30-10), who have lost four of their past five (1-2-2). Sam Montembeault made 24 saves.

“They’re a great team over there with a lot of superstar power and I thought we were solid against it all night long,” Matheson said. “There’s two sides to it where obviously we played a great game, and then the competitor in me is still frustrated to play that well against a team like that and not come away with a win.”

Matheson gave Montreal a 1-0 lead 36 seconds into the first period. He cut across the goalmouth, took a return pass from Cole Caufield and tucked a backhand around Samsonov.

McMann tied it 1-1 39 seconds into the second period, shooting past Montembeault’s blocker from the right side on a 2-on-1.

“I just thought [McMann] played an outstanding game with lots of confidence,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He was just strong, hard on the puck, lots of urgency to his game. I thought their team had a hard time handling him, so it was a really good showing for him.”

Domi put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1 at 18:41 on the rush when he flipped a shot in under Montembeault’s left arm after catching up with a long pass by Calle Jarnkrok from the Montreal offensive zone.

“That’s like a (former NFL quarterback) Tom Brady pass by ‘Jarny,’” Domi said. “It might have been a Randy Moss kind of thing, but I just took off. He’s such a smart player and I had a step on the D and got a little lucky.”

Newhook tied it 2-2 at 5:05 of the third on the power play, taking Slafkovsky’s pass from the right boards and scoring on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

“We came back from a long road trip, we wanted to use that Saturday night energy at the Bell Centre, and I think the guys worked hard,” Montembeault said. “It’s unfortunate that bounce at the end on the third goal, even their two other goals, it was just a bounce in the neutral zone. I think we played really well in their zone tonight. We didn’t give them much and I’m really happy with the effort of the guys tonight.”