Montreal Canadiens Three Stars vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Montreal Canadiens opening night was ruined by an overtime goal by Morgan Rielly that gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 5-4 victory over the Habs.

The Canadiens had their first chance at revenge last night as they took on the Leafs at the Bell Centre for the first time this season.

Shortly before puck drop it was revealed that Joel Armia would be back in the lineup after missing seven games with a concussion. He was injured by a high hit from Tyler Myers of the Vancouver Canucks after scoring four points that night.

With Armia back in the lineup, the Habs had a full, healthy roster again and chose to go with starting goaltender Carey Price in goal as well. Armia stepped back on to the third line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Tyler Toffoli and pushed Corey Perry down to the fourth line with Artturi Lehkonen and Jake Evans. This made veteran, and assistant captain, Paul Byron a healthy scratch for the first time this season.

The Canadiens got off to a great start with Josh Anderson barreling down the wing and beating Frederik Andersen with a wrist shot through the five hole to open the scoring just 1:16 into the game.

The second period was pretty quiet for the Habs until offsetting penalties with about six minutes to go resulted in some four on four action. The Maple Leafs completely dominated the four on four hockey with Phillip Danault, Brendan Gallagher and Ben Chiarot all turning the puck over in the Habs zone before Travis Dermott scored the tying goal.

Early in the third period, a pair of quick Leafs goals gave them a 3-1 lead. The Habs pulled within one when Tomas Tatar banged in a loose puck but Zach Hyman sealed the victory for the Maple Leafs when he scored an empty net goal.

It wasn’t the best game we saw from the Habs this season, but here are their three stars.