Josh Anderson and Alexandre Carrier each had a goal and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
It was the season opener for each team.
“We focused on a lot of things in camp, paying attention to detail,” Anderson said. “Obviously, we had a little bit of a slow start (tonight), but we got some momentum on our hands and started to roll from there. I liked our compete level, and obviously Jakub Dobes made some huge saves for us tonight.”
Zachary Bolduc scored, and Dobes made 26 saves for the Canadiens.
“I saw a group just trying to find a way to win a game,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We don’t play until Saturday (at the Pittsburgh Penguins). We’re going to get together and spend some quality time and team bonding. To go get a win in the first game, I’m really happy.
“Do we have things to address and correct? I’m sure we do and it’s nice to be able to do that after a win. The tone of positivity can stay around and (we can) still do some teaching.”
William Nylander scored twice, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in his debut for the Maple Leafs, who were playing their first game under coach Jim Hiller.
“I thought we played pretty well to be honest with you,” Hiller said. “Most of the chances they got, we gave them. We turned the puck over in the defensive zone, so that was really our Achillies’ heel. Outside of that, I thought we played pretty well.”
Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, was minus-2 with one shot on goal in 15:19 of ice time in his NHL debut.
“It was a lot of fun,” McKenna said. “Obviously you want to get the win but to get that first one under my belt, it feels good.
“(My game was) not great. I had a couple turnovers. I’m glad we are playing again (on Wednesday against the New York Islanders),” McKenna said. “Montreal is a really good team, they don’t give you much time and space.”
Bolduc put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 4:52 of the second period. Mike Matheson drove to the net and put the puck into the slot, where Bolduc shot past Bobrovsky’s glove.
The goal came after Dobes kept the game tied at 17 seconds of the second period, making a glove save on a one-timer from Kirill Marchenko from the left face-off dot.
Carrier made it 3-1 at 13:12 of the third period when he scored through traffic from the right point with a shot over Bobrovsky’s glove.
“We want to try to forecheck teams as much as we can and get in front of Bobrovsky,” Anderson said. “He’s a world-class goalie, so just shoot as many pucks as we can and screen him.”
The Maple Leafs cut it to 3-2 at 15:46. Nylander worked a give-and-go with Easton Cowan, who took a pass at the side of the net and returned it to Nylander in the low slot, where he shot past Dobes’ glove.
Toronto went ahead 1-0 at 48 seconds of the first period. Nylander kept the puck in at the blue line and stepped around Nick Suzuki before carrying it to the right dot and scoring to the short side.
Marchenko, who was acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, had the secondary assist on the goal for his first point with Toronto.
“I was nervous and I’m so happy to be here,” the forward said. “I think it’s a dream to everybody to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. It happened quick. … I feel like I had good chances, but it’s not what I want to see from myself. I can play better for sure.”
Toronto had outshot Montreal 6-1 until Juraj Slafkovsky recorded the Canadiens’ second shot at 9:43 of the first.
“(Dobes) was excellent, made some really big saves for us,” St. Louis said. “Especially early on, I felt like we weren’t playing fast enough. He bought us some time to get going and (we) started playing faster, forechecking more and owning pucks in the offensive zone. I would say the first seven or eight minutes, I’d say the ice was tilted a little bit and we tilted it back.”
Anderson tied it 1-1 at 10:53, deflecting a point shot from Carrier and then swatting his own rebound out of the air at the top of the crease.
“It’s hard. You sit here for 30 minutes, it’s their home opener, you expect them to come out strong,” Dobes said. “So, I tried to give the guys some energy back and some breathing room and they scored three goals in a row. So, I feel like our guys just needed a little bit of time to get going.”
