Sam Montembeault made 45 saves, Cole Caufield scored and the Montreal Canadiens beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 on Wednesday in the season opener for both teams.
The Maple Leafs had gone 227 consecutive games without being shut out, the longest active streak in the NHL, but Montreal spoiled coach Craig Berube’s Maple Leafs debut.
Montembeault logged his second career shutout. The other occurred on Feb. 23, 2022, in a 4-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves for Toronto, as Joseph Woll did not start in goal because of a lower-body injury. Goalie Dennis Hildeby was recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis to back up Stolarz.
Montreal went 1-for-5 on the power play while Toronto was 0-for-4.
Mitch Marner led the Maple Leafs with six shots on goal, and Auston Matthews put five attempts on target.
Former Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty played 13:24 and had two shots on goal in his Maple Leafs debut.
The Canadiens scored the lone goal on a power play at 7:48 of the first period. Kirby Dach fed Juraj Slafkovsky below the goal line. Slafkovsky got the puck to Caufield, who one-timed the puck past Stolarz from the right post.
Stolarz stopped an attempt by Alex Newhook from the slot at 10:30 of the third period to keep the Leafs’ deficit at one.
Montembeault stopped Steven Lorentz alone in front at 12:05 of the third period.
The Maple Leafs, who scored an NHL-high 11 six-on-five goals last season, including one on opening night against the Canadiens, pulled Stolarz with more than two minutes remaining. However, they were unable to convert as Montembeault made several saves in front as the last minute, including one on Matthews in the final seconds.
Toronto outshot Montreal 13-6 in the second period but was unable to convert. Montembeault robbed Matthews with his glove early in the second. Later in the period, Matthews banged a shot off the post.
–Field Level Media
