Alexandre Texier scored the decisive goal of a shootout and the visiting Montreal Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night.
Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens in regulation and also in the shootout and Jakub Dobes made 22 saves. Montreal has won two in a row and five of seven games.
Scott Laughton scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a three-game winning streak end in their return from a 4-2-0 road trip.
With Joseph Woll on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury, Dennis Hildeby started in goal for Toronto and stopped 33 shots.
The Maple Leafs’ streak of scoring on their first shot on goal ended Saturday at four consecutive games. They failed to score on seven shots on goal in a conservative 0-0 first period. Montreal had nine shots. Each team had one power play.
The pace picked up in the second period. Five minutes into the period, the Canadiens bottled up the Maple Leafs for a stretch but did not get a dangerous chance on goal until Jared Davidson blasted a shot wide from the slot.
Montreal broke through with a power-play goal at 8:25 of the second period when Caufield scored from the edge of the crease on his second swipe at the puck. Caufield has a 10-game point streak. Toronto defenseman Troy Stecher was off for tripping.
Hildeby kept the score at 1-0 when he stopped Zachary Bolduc on a breakaway at 11:53.
Montreal continued to have the better of the play for the remainder of the second period.
Toronto started the third period with more urgency but was not able to maintain sustained pressure with Montreal able to clear the puck.
Toronto scored a short-handed goal at 10:26 of the third period when Nicolas Roy’s pass sprung Laughton for a breakaway.
Toronto’s Dakota Joshua had a point-blank shot bounce off Dobes’ mask at 12:36.
Toronto went on the power play at 14:33 of the third, but Montreal held on with help from a blocked shot by Oliver Kapanen.
During overtime, Dobes stopped William Nylander on a breakaway. Hildeby countered with a big save on Mike Matheson.
Auston Matthews scored the only goal for Toronto in three rounds of the shootout. Dobes stopped Nylander and John Tavares.
Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly played in his 900th NHL game.
–Field Level Media
