The Montreal Canadiens, for the seventh straight year, opened the regular season against the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, this was a very different Maple Leafs team as new general manager John Chayka and head coach Jim Hiller were aggressive this offseason. They would add Darren Raddysh and Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency, win the NHL Draft Lottery and draft Gavin McKenna first overall, and then finally trade for Kirill Marchenko one day before this game.
Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens didn't make many changes this offseason but have already shown they can be successful with this roster by reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season. In the first game of the season, that experience and familiarity paid off as they would go on to win 3-2 on Opening Night.
The Maple Leafs secured the first goal of the game, less than a minute after the opening puck drop, when William Nylander beat Jakub Dobes. However, the Canadiens would bounce back and score three straight goals starting with Josh Anderson in the first period.
In the second period, Zachary Bolduc broke the tie and gave Montreal the lead before Alexandre Carrier extended it to 3-1 in the third period. The Maple Leafs didn't go away and Nylander would score his second of the night but they wouldn't be able to do much else and failed to tie it up before the end of regulation.
These are four takeaways from the first win of the 2026-27 season for the Montreal Canadiens.
Montreal Canadiens weathered the initial rush by the Maple Leafs
Entering this game, it was expected that the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to try to come out fast. They were playing in front of their home fans with a returning Auston Matthews from an injury he suffered last season, alongside almost an entirely new roster.
The Maple Leafs did just that as they were moving through the first 10 minutes and had Montreal on their heels with an early 1-0 lead with William Nylander's goal 48 seconds into the game.
However, momentum seemed to shift back to Montreal after Jakub Dobes made a save on a wide-open slap shot from Auston Matthews. The Canadiens seemed to get back to playing their game and Josh Anderson would tie it up a few minutes later.
The Canadiens' playoff experience from last season showed here as they didn't panic after the start. They got back to playing their game, and the Maple Leafs were unable to take back the momentum.
Jakub Dobes wins another goalie duel
Jakub Dobes didn't have the best preseason but it didn't matter as he looked like the goalie from the playoffs who outplayed some excellent goalies like Andrei Vasilevskiy. On Tuesday night, he once again was going up against one of the best at the position in Sergei Bobrovsky, who was making his debut with the Maple Leafs.
However, it didn't matter to Dobes and he once again kept the Canadiens in the game and was the best goalie on the ice at least for this night. He finished the game stopping 26 of 28 shots, including stopping eight of nine high-danger shots he faced.
Dobes had an excellent rookie season and is picking up right from where he left off with his performance in this game against Toronto.
Impressive performance by the Canadiens fourth line
At least in the first game of the season, the Canadiens' best line was the combination of Josh Anderson, Jake Evans, and Zachary Bolduc. These three accounted for two of the three goals with Bolduc adding a goal in the second that gave Montreal the 2-1 lead after Josh Anderson scored the first goal for Montreal.
In addition to the scoring, which the Canadiens can't expect every night, the Canadiens did a lot of the little things that help Montreal. This line was very physical, as they combined for seven of the team's 28 hits, and Evans, who was the only player who didn't have a point on this line, was very good in the faceoff circle with a win percentage of 58.8%.
All three players made an impact in this game and were a big reason the Canadiens won the regular season opener.
Montreal Canadiens penalty kill looks good against the Maple Leafs
One of the big changes for this season is the Montreal Canadiens' penalty kill, and they are expected to be more aggressive with Derek Lalonde on the bench. In the first game of the season, they certainly looked more aggressive, and the results were positive, as they allowed only four shots over three power-play opportunities for Toronto.
Mike Matheson led the way in time on ice with 4:30 followed by Alexandre Carrier with 3:21 and among the forwards Josh Anderson, Phillip Danault, and Alex Newhook finished with around 2:30 in icetime.
The Montreal Canadiens will now have a few days between games as their next will be on Saturday with another road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins before the home opener a week from today against the Carolina Hurricanes.
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