The Toronto Maple Leafs embarked on their 102nd regular season with a level of excitement not felt since coming within one game of reaching the Stanley Cup Final twenty-five years ago, but after being outworked and outchanced by the Montreal Canadiens, the Leafs were rescued by the offensive exploits of Auston Matthew and John Tavares and the goaltending of Frederik Andersen in a 3-2 overtime victory at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
The Canadiens were expected to struggle this season as concerns about generating offense, the absence of team captain Shea Weber until December and the uncertainty of goaltender Carey Price coming off the worst year of his professional career, but Montreal put in a solid effort against one of the league’s better scoring teams, limiting Toronto to 26 shots and earning a point against a club they lost all four contests to last season.
WATCH: Maple Leafs' GM Kyle Dubas records opening ceremony on cell phone
Here are five takeaways from the game:
1. The One - Two punch
One of the primary reasons why the Maple Leafs are considered a Stanley Cup contender is the advantage of having two #1 centers and the matchup problem that poses to their opposition. That strength was on display in the season opener, as Matthews scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner at 1:01 of overtime. Tavares wasted little time having an impact on his new club, registering his first goal in Blue and White late in the second period.
“It was nice to contribute and take advantage of some space there. Great play by (Nazem Kadri) and I think it was Josh (Leivo) going to the net.” Tavares said. “I was just able to create some space for myself and capitalize to put the team ahead at that point.”
2. Price is Right
The league’s highest paid goalie was limited to 49 games due to injuries and put up a career-worst 3.11 GAA and .900 save percentage last season, but the 31-year-old appeared to be the Carey Price of old in the opener, making stellar saves on Travis Dermott and Josh Leivo to keep the Leafs from taking the lead.
Josh can't Beleivo it, what a save by Carey Price! pic.twitter.com/lcaUTrtkAa
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) October 4, 2018
3. Leafs fail to limit shots on Andersen
One of Toronto’s goals this season is to cut down on the shots that Frederik Andersen faces, as the Leafs goalie saw the most shots in the NHL last season. In their season debut, the club’s inability to possess the puck and gain control in the defensive zone allowed the Canadiens to register 36 shots on goal, including 15 in the third period with the score tied 2-2.
“We’ve got to be way better for him.” Matthews said after the game. “(Andersen) made a lot of saves…..too many. We didn’t take care of the puck in the (defensive) zone and we were kind of slow getting to our (assignment). They had a lot of Grade A chances and he stood on his head for us tonight.”
Babcock indicated prior to the game that he was worried about potential complacency from his club and them relying too much on talent and not putting in the work necessary to earn victories and that concern was justified with their effort on Wednesday.
“I just think when the other team is on top of you and they're hungrier than you and they're winning more 50-50 battles – part of it is execution, part of it is work, part of it is if you don't come back and stop, you go by, it's hard to execute.” Babcock said. “Don't get me wrong, I like winning. That's why you play the whole game”
4. “Mr 2000” Kotkaniemi gets his first point
Habs 2018 first rounder Jesperi Kotkaniemi became the first player born in the 21st Century to play an NHL game. The third overall pick was the second youngest player in Canadiens history (18 years, 89 days old) to score a point, as the young center had an assist on Andrew Shaw’s power play goal late in the second period.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi's first NHL assist and point. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/6WUJorBqpZ
— Canadiens Prospects (@mtl_prospects) October 4, 2018
The Habs appear to be buying into playing their youngsters over established veterans. 35-year-old Tomas Plekanec was scratched in favor of Kotkaniemi in the season opener, and Karl Alzner (who was signed as a free agent in 2017) was scratched in favor of Xavier Ouellet, ending the veteran blueliner’s streak of 622 straight games.
5. Shanahan preaches taking less to keep the team together
Leafs Team President Brendan Shanahan spoke with reporters about the contract impasse between Toronto and restricted free agent William Nylander on Wednesday and indicated that the young players coming up on new contracts would have to take less (as he did during his playing days with the Detroit Red Wings) to keep the club viable as a Cup contender for the foreseeable future.
“At the end of the day we all found a way to fit with each other so that we could keep adding to the group,” Shanahan said. “And that’s obviously what we are asking some of young leaders to do. There’s a lot of other voices and understandably so. And like I said, it’s not for everyone and we’re not for everyone. But we think that the players that we currently have, while it’s not going to be easy, we have great confidence that they have bought into being a part of this program and being a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Matthews, who will be a restricted free agent next summer and whose representatives are negotiating with the Leafs, was asked after the game what he thought of the concept of taking less for the greater good.
“That’s why we have agents, so let them figure it out and talk to management and we’ll stay out of it and just play hockey.”