“The belief we have in our group and what we’ve done in the last few years, we’re excited about what we have and think it can be something special”, said Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher.
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Galchenyuk showed improvement in the faceoff circle, winning seven of 10 draws. “It’s just another day’s work or him”.
Things were looking good for Montreal as they put up the first goal in a pretty easy way. It felt like a playoff-style game in the first period right from the puck drop.
This is the real challenge for the Leafs going into this season because there are a lot of unknowns.
In a new wrinkle for this season, coaches are able to challenge goals involving goalie interference or offside plays.
There was not much drama at the Montreal Canadiens camp this year.
James van Riemsdyk had a power-play goal for Toronto early in the second period.
Carey Price had a fantastic season previous year and he will try and keep that going this season.
Price made 36 saves as the Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 Wednesday night in the season opener.
Toronto Maple Leafs’ Shawn Matthias (23) drives around his net as Montreal Canadiens’ Tomas Plekanec (14) chases during the first period of an NHL preseason hockey game, Wednesday, October 7, 2015 in Toronto. Alex Galchenyuk’s game-winner in the third period prevented more history from taking place at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night. The Maple Leafs lost 3-1, meaning the first true win of Toronto’s Babcock era will wait a little longer. The review was the result of a Maple Leafs challenge. It’s all about what we can do collectively to get us where we want to go.
Speaking of Pacioretty he was playing his 400th regular season game in the National Hockey League and his first as team captain. “That’s not what it’s about”, Subban said.
After two mid-season meltdowns that led to wholesale organizational changes, the Leafs are like the Drake song “Started From the Bottom”, except they’re there now. Hopefully with a coach that can instill a lot of confidence in his players can do the same for a player that has seen a rapid decline since he broke out with the Calgary Flames years ago.
Bernier will get his shot at redemption on Friday night when the Leafs visit Detroit.
“We obviously would’ve liked to maintain a little bit more offensive-zone pressure”, Price said. “To get to the rink today and go through the same routine, it was definitely refreshing”.
This allowed Maple Leafs to commit themselves fully to their defensive duties, and then switch it up, rather than prolonging shifts to the point of lazy defence.
What’s more predictable than a Michel Therrien-coached Canadiens team surrendering 37 shots, relying on their all-world goaltender Carey Price to bail them out on several occasions, and having their best forward Max Pacioretty carry the load by scoring two of their three goals? Both Babcock and Lamoriello, you should know, took great delight in giving the gears to Shanahan after TV cameras caught him on the ice. “There are no grey areas”.
“You can tell that they were on the same page”, Price said of the Leafs.
Attempting to start the season on a positive note months later and losing to a Canadiens team they outplayed is a first dose of pain for the Leafs to deal with.
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That’s going to lead to a lot of 30-35 shot games where they just can’t break through and score.
