Auston Matthews notched his 8th career NHL hat trick while Mitch Marner scored the only goal in a 3-round shootout as the Toronto Maple Leafs edged longtime rival Montreal 6-5 Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Montreal at least drew first blood, courtesy of a breakaway goal by Jake Evans off a Leafs turnover for the only goal of the opening 20 minutes. They'd get a similarly quick start come period 2, as Alex Newhook made it 2-0 Habs 1:10 into the 2nd period. Toronto responded with their first goal of the game from Noah Gregor at 7:46, and then Matthews tallied his first of the night on the power play at 14:51, followed a couple of minutes later by William Nylander with 45 seconds left in the period, also on the man advantage. Montreal held the 3-2 lead heading to the 3rd period, but by then, the momentum was definitely going for Toronto.
Montreal wasn't fazed by Toronto making things a 1 goal game all of a sudden, as they notched 3 straight goals, by Cole Caufield on the power play at 4:25, Newhook's 2nd of the game at 5:47, and Jesse Ylonen at 11:55 to gain a 5-3 advantage with less than half of the 3rd period to go. Toronto had its own 3 unanswered goals coming up, though, as back-to-back tallies from Matthews to complete his hat trick (15:28 and the tying goal at 18:53, just over a minute to go in regulation made it 5-5.
After a tense overtime, things headed to a shootout, starting with Nylander, who rang iron for the first attempt. Montreal's first attempt saw captain Nick Suzuki miss to the right. In round 2, Matthews had his shot saved by Habs goalie Jake Allen, while Caufield hit the iron for Montreal, like Nylander in round 1. Mitch Marner provided the icebreaker in the shootout, and then Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov stopped a shot by Montreal's Kirby Dach to seal the game for the Leafs. It had been an exciting 21st time the Leafs and Canadiens met to open the NHL regular season.
Toronto stays at home for their next game, an October 14 duel with the Minnesota Wild at 7 p.m. Montreal, meanwhile, heads back home to the Bell Centre for their home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks, same date and time.
Team Stats:
Shots: MTL 24, TOR 42
Hits: MTL 37, TOR 27
Faceoff Wins: MTL 28, TOR 26
PIM: MTL 25, TOR 15
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