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The Good, Bad, & Ugly: Maple Leafs Win Over Canadiens

Last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montréal Canadiens 4–1. What were the good, the bad, and ugly aspects of the game?

by
Stan Smith
November 10, 2024

The Toronto Maple Leafs made it three-for-three against Atlantic Division rivals this week with a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?

The Good (Timmins, Nylander, and Tavares)

All three of these games have been four-point games. The results have a massive impact on the early-season standings in the Atlantic Division. Losing them would have put the Maple Leafs in a trailing position. Winning them now puts Toronto in a solid place within the division. While they can’t seem to gain ground on the first-place Florida Panthers, they are putting some space between themselves and the rest of the division.

How many times will I get to write the following sentence? The Maple Leafs scored a goal with the assistance of Conor Timmins, Simon Benoit, and Ryan Reaves. I’m guessing not many. This was Timmins’ first goal, Reaves’ first point this season, and Benoit’s second point. Some luck was involved. Timmins fanned on his first shot attempt from the point, almost giving Josh Anderson a breakaway.

However, Timmins regained control of the puck, spun away from Anderson, took a few strides toward the goal, and unleashed a shot that bounced off Christian Dvorak and past Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault into the net. The TV announcers criticized Anderson on the play, but he was clearly fooled when Timmins initially lost control of the puck, probably thinking he was away at the races with it.

Special Teams Helped the Maple Leafs Build a Lead

From there, it was all special teams. Toronto added a power-play goal by William Nylander and their first shorthanded goal of the season, thanks to Mitch Marner. For the second game in a row, Toronto answered a power-play goal by the opposition with one of their own shortly afterward.

Nylander put on a puck-handling clinic on the first power-play goal. He picked up a drop pass from Matthew Knies in the Toronto zone, skated through all four Canadiens on the ice, and beat Montembeault cleanly under his glove. Marner created a 2-on-1 on the shorthanded goal, finishing it on a broken play after David Kampf failed to convert a pass from Marner in front of Montembeault but relayed the puck back. Montembeault followed Kampf the entire way, leaving Marner with a wide-open net.

Just over two minutes after Montreal got on the board with a power-play goal, John Tavares scored on Toronto’s next power-play advantage. Tavares took a pass from Marner between the hash marks, fired a wrist shot that Montembeault stopped but couldn’t control, and buried the rebound before the goalie could get set.

Marner, Nylander, and Tavares Are on Hot Streaks

Marner, Nylander, and Tavares are all on hot streaks. He has an eight-game point streak with 13 points (three goals, ten assists) over that span. On a four-game point streak, Nylander has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his last seven games. He is tied for first in the NHL with 11 goals in 16 games, alongside Nikita Kucherov and Sam Reinhart. Tavares notched his third goal in two games. That gives him eight on the season. He is on pace to score over 40 goals for only the second time in his 16-year career.

Morgan Rielly also made history, picking up an assist on Nylander’s goal to become just the third defenseman in franchise history to reach 400 assists as a Maple Leaf. The other two are Borje Salming (620) and Tomas Kaberle (437). With Rielly just turning 30 this year and signed for six more years, he has a decent chance of catching Salming for the top spot.

Joseph Woll was solid when needed. He stopped 20 of 21 shots to even his record at 2-2 with a .905 SV% and a 2.27 GAA.

The Bad (Newhook, Holmberg)

Aside from a few defensive breakdowns, the Maple Leafs controlled over 50 of the 60 minutes. The first eight-and-a-half minutes of the third period saw Montreal pressuring Toronto to get back into the game. After only 11 shots in the first two periods, Montreal fired nine in the first 8:33 of the third. Woll stood tall, and Toronto settled down afterward, limiting the Canadiens to just one shot over the rest of the period.

The only other “Bad” was the refereeing. It was as if two different teams of referees were officiating the first two periods. In the first period, the officials let everything go; I counted seven possible infractions that seemed pretty obvious, yet nothing was called. However, eight penalties were called in the second period, with some seeming questionable or borderline.

The officials from the first period returned for the third, as only one roughing penalty was issued to Alex Newhook, who attempted to drive Pontus Holmberg’s face into the ice after Holmberg had knocked Montembeault down. Holmberg could have also been penalized, as his play didn’t appear intentional. Overall, there was no consistency in the calls throughout the game.

The Ugly (Max Pacioretty Is Injured)

Max Pacioretty left the game with just over two minutes remaining in the first period. After taking an uncalled crosscheck from behind by Mike Matheson and falling awkwardly to the ice, Pacioretty signaled to the bench that he was hurt. He limped off, holding his hand behind his right leg, above the knee, in obvious pain. Pacioretty remained on the bench for the rest of the period but needed help getting to the dressing room at intermission.

At the start of the second period, it was announced that he would not return. After the game, Craig Berube stated that it would take a day or so to evaluate the injury fully. However, it didn’t look like a minor issue unless it was just a severe cramp. That’s unfortunate, as the Tavares-Nylander-Pacioretty line was playing well. Bobby McMann moved up to take Pacioretty’s place on the line to finish the game.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

The Maple Leafs get two days to recover from the weekend’s games before playing another back-to-back set. They’ll aim for a four-for-four record against Atlantic Division rivals when they host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. The Senators, coming off a 3-2 OT win over the Boston Bruins, won’t play again until Tuesday. At 7-7-0, Ottawa is six points behind Toronto but has two games in hand.

After the Senators game, the Maple Leafs will head to Washington to face the Capitals on Wednesday night. After an 8-1 rout of the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, the Capitals also have a break before hosting Toronto. Alex Ovechkin is on a tear. With ten goals in 14 games, and now needs just 31 to catch Wayne Gretzky as the all-time NHL goal scorer—a record once considered unbreakable.

Auston Matthews will be eligible to return Tuesday after being placed on injured reserve last week. He was skating earlier on Saturday. I’d be surprised if Pacioretty can play. Toronto called Connor Dewar from his AHL conditioning stint to take Matthews’ roster spot. If both Matthews and Pacioretty are unavailable, Dewar will likely step in. Jani Hakanpaa is also eligible to come off long-term injured reserve following the Marlies game on Sunday. He could play in one of this week’s games. Philippe Myers might find himself on waivers to clear the way for Hakanpaa.