The Toronto Maple Leafs launched its 2023-24 campaign on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena beating the Montreal Canadiens in the heart-stopping fashion fans have come to embrace.
Before the action, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe talked about getting off on the right foot, as the team had its fair share of inconsistencies in the past couple of seasons.
“It took us too long last year to really find our game and play with purpose and all those kind of things,” Keefe said. “It’s the NHL, you got to put in the work and be ready.”
The puck hit the ice and fans got a glimpse at the rebuilt first line of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and new addition Tyler Bertuzzi.
Early in the first period, both teams developed chance after chance, but the Habs took the lead after Leafs defenceman T.J. Brodie tripped up on the Canadiens’ blue line opening a breakaway lane for Canadiens centre Jake Evans.
The first goal had Toronto looking sluggish until another new addition to the team, Ryan Reaves, laid a huge hit on Habs Kaiden Guhle, leading to a fight between Reeves and Montreal defenceman Arber Xhekaj.
This sparked an energy in the building that rallied the crowd.
The fans’ silence became overwhelming again after Montreal increased their lead to 2-0 on an Alex Newhook tap-in early in the second period.
Toronto finally put their foot on the gas as newcomer Noah Gregor, who had a strong preseason with the team, fired it past Habs goalie Jake Allen making it a 2-1 game.
The Leafs stuck again, this time on the power play, as Matthews found the back of the net, giving him his first goal of the season — and his 300th of his career while breaking a team record of getting to that level the fastest — and tying the game at two a piece.
The scoring didn’t end there. William Nylander gave the Leafs a 3-2 lead with less than a minute left in the second as he blasted one past Allen on the power play for his first of the year.
“I think the power play, obviously that was big for us, came up with a couple of big goals just to get us back into it,” Matthews said after the game.
The Canadiens crushed the Leafs’ momentum early in the third by scoring two goals a minute apart to take a 4-3 lead.
Toronto’s D-core would end up making another costly mistake as Timothy Liljegren fanned on a clearance in his zone setting up Canadiens forward Jesse Ylonen for a goal that would make the game 5-3.
With this game seemingly in the grasp of the Canadiens, Keefe pulled goalie Ilya Samsonov with five minutes remaining to give the Leafs a man advantage.
The risky decision from the coach would pay off as Matthews slid the puck underneath Allen’s pads for his second, getting the Leafs back within one.
With time winding down and the Leafs pushing to tie the game, Nylander would intercept a clearance attempt and start a scrum in front of the Habs net. Matthews, who would not be stopped at two goals, found a way to force the puck into the net, giving him his 8th career hat-trick and tying the game in the last minute of play forcing overtime.
The Leafs looked vicious in the added period but took a late penalty that would give the Canadiens a power play for the remainder of overtime. The Leafs penalty kill heroics shut the door bringing the game to a penalty shootout.
Both goalies were unbeaten through the first four shooters until Mitch Marner made a nifty move and scored to give Toronto the advantage. The Leafs netminder shut the door on the Habs final shooter giving Toronto a 6-5 win on opening night and their first win of the season.
Leafs’ Captain John Tavares said it was good the team took the home-opener.
“Obviously (it’s) good to get the two points,” Tavares said. “Winning in this league is difficult, so just staying with it at many points in the game and finding our way to get that done, but no doubt we need to defend better.”
The Leafs take on the Minnesota Wild in their second test for the new season on Saturday, Oct. 14.