Leafs win spirited pre-season tilt with Canadiens

MONTREAL – The Toronto Maple Leafs person won some NHL pre-season games against the Montreal Canadiens, bringing location a carnal 2-1 triumph connected Saturday evening astatine the Centre Bell.

Nicholas Robertson scored doubly for the Maple Leafs, portion Kirby Dach scored Montreal’s lone extremity precocious successful the 3rd period.

After little than 4 minutes, the raucous Centre Bell abruptly fell assemblage quiescent erstwhile recently acquired guardant Patrik Laine collided with Cedric Pare and Jacob Quillan of the Leafs successful what appeared to beryllium a knee-on-knee hit. Laine did not instrumentality to the game.

The wounded sparked retaliation from Arber Xhekaj whose actions earned him a crippled misconduct, leaving the Canadiens with a seven-minute punishment to kill.

Including an earlier wounded to David Reinbacher, the Canadiens recovered themselves 3 players abbreviated aft little than 5 minutes.

Toronto capitalized connected the antheral vantage erstwhile Robertson’s changeable squeezed past netminder Samuel Montembeault. For the remainder of the archetypal frame, the Maple Leafs’ defence shone, sidesplitting disconnected 3 penalties and conceding hardly immoderate unsafe chances.

Montreal started the 2nd play with renewed enthusiasm, committing much to the forecheck. However, rivalry and animosity grabbed the spotlight arsenic the play was littered with scrums aft astir each whistle and 2 fights, starring to 73 punishment minutes betwixt some teams by the extremity of the 2nd frame.

Toronto erstwhile against unopen the doorway successful the Canadiens look during the period, allowing 9 shots but sidesplitting disconnected 3 penalties including a unsafe four-on-three successful bid to support a 1-0 pb astatine the 2nd intermission.

The Maple Leafs started the 3rd play with overmuch much progressive play, taking their velocity to the Canadiens defencemen and uncovering capable abstraction to treble their lead. After a speedy breakout, Robertson recovered himself unsocial with the netminder, slipping a changeable underneath Montembeault’s limb erstwhile again.

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Montreal thought they had recovered an reply little than a infinitesimal later, but Cole Caufield was denied by an fantabulous sprawling prevention from Dennis Hildeby.

With the goalie pulled the Canadiens continued to heap connected the unit successful bid to find a mode backmost into the game. They got it with little than 2 minutes to play aft a slick passing play near Dach with a wide unfastened net, cutting the shortage to one.

It was excessively small excessively precocious for the location squad however, arsenic the Maple Leafs saw retired the last moments of the crippled to seal the victory.

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Maple Leafs: Visit the Detroit Red Wings connected Thursday.

Canadiens: Host the Ottawa Senators connected Tuesday.

This study by The Canadian Press was archetypal published Sept. 28, 2024.