Game 715
Maple Leafs 2, Canadiens 1
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ goaltending and overall team defence were major sources of concern for the organization over the long offseason.

One game into the new season, so far, so good on both fronts.

Goalie Ben Scrivens got the nod over assumed incumbent James Reimer and needed to stop only 21 shots to backstop the Maple Leafs to a 2-1 opening-night victory against the rival Montréal Canadiens.

The Maple Leafs finished 29th in the NHL in goals-against per game last season, but they played tight, defensive hockey and snuffed out any momentum the Canadiens could have had after an emotional opening ceremony to kick off the 2012-13 season.

“Our entire team played extremely well defensively,” said Scrivens, who has been an American Hockey League standout this season with the Toronto Marlies and brought that level of play up to the NHL with him. “It’s not just our defence; our wingers were down low clogging up the slot and picking up rebounds. That’s what we need to do to be successful.”

Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak scored power-play goals, and Phil Kessel assisted on both for the Maple Leafs to provide Scrivens all the offence he would need – though he received a lot of help from teammates who kept the Canadiens largely on the perimeter and chasing the puck most of the night.

“I thought we did a really good job of keeping the puck to the outside and limiting their opportunities,” Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. “When you have a team that has speed, skill, and they’ve got some big forwards up there that take the puck to the net, you’ve got to keep them to the outside. The reason we kept the shots down tonight is we kept everything to the outside, we blocked a lot of shots, and we had our sticks in good lanes.”

The Canadiens, as they often do, marked the beginning of the new season by honouring its prior ones.

The team’s theme for the season is “Raise the Torch,” so former Canadiens captains Yvan Cournoyer, Henri Richard, Vincent Damphousse, Serge Savard and Jean Béliveau – who received an ovation that nearly blew the roof off Bell Centre – conducted a torch relay that ended with current captain Brian Gionta on the ice.

The torch was passed from player to player as they were introduced to the sellout crowd, and 18-year-old rookie Alex Galchenyuk received one of the loudest ovations prior to his NHL debut.

But one of the most enthusiastic crowd responses was reserved for coach Michel Therrien, coaching his 500th game, his first since being hired for his hometown team.

The warmth from the crowd, however, did not last very long – the Canadiens took a penalty 46 seconds after the opening faceoff when Ryan White was called for goaltender interference, triggering a Montréal parade to the penalty box.

Erik Cole took Montréal’s second penalty of the game 16 seconds after White’s ended, and the Maple Leafs took advantage when Kadri jumped on a blocked centering pass from Kessel and caught goaltender Carey Price moving the wrong way at 4:51 of the first. It was Toronto’s first shot on goal this season.

The early Canadiens penalties took the crowd out of it and gave the Maple Leafs momentum they would not relinquish. Were it not for a number of strong saves by Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, the game could have gotten out of hand.

“That’s a tough way to start out your game,” said Price, who had 24 saves. “First game of the season and you get scored on (on) your first shot. That’s not the way you want to start, but it’s tough when you’re a man down for four of the first six minutes. It’s tough to get into it when you’re chasing the puck around.”

The Maple Leafs’ tight defensive play should be a welcome sign for their fans and coach Randy Carlyle, who is beginning his first full season behind the Toronto bench after taking over for Ron Wilson on March 2, 2012.

“I thought we tried to establish a strong and aggressive defensive zone coverage, and for times in the game we had a strong forecheck,” Carlyle said. “We can skate, but when we got ragged we stopped skating.”

Montréal’s frustration appeared to show itself at 7:14 of the second period when Tomas Plekanec was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct after giving Scrivens a snow shower.

Bozak scored Toronto’s second power-play goal of the game less than a minute later, jumping on a rebound of a Kessel rocket from the slot at 8:12 to put Toronto ahead 2-0.

By the end of the period, the crowd that was so revved up by the opening ceremony was booing the Canadiens.

“There was a lot of emotion for that game,” Therrien said. “We took some penalties that took the momentum out.”

The hostility continued into the third period despite the fact Montréal began showing signs of life, spending extended stretches in the Toronto zone for the first time in the game and pressuring the Maple Leafs. The hard work paid off at 13:51 when Gionta jumped on a Scrivens rebound at the lip of the crease on the power play in his first game since January 10, 2011, after missing most of last season with a torn biceps muscle.

But the Maple Leafs successfully held off the late Canadiens charge and headed back to Toronto to prepare for their home opener Monday against the Buffalo Sabres with a perfect record.

Story property of NHL.com, photo property of Canada.com

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL PEN – 00:46 – White, interference
MTL PEN – 03:02 – Cole, hooking
TOR PP GOAL – 04:51 – Kadri (Kessel, Kostka)
TOR PEN – 07:00 – Brown, fighting major
MTL PEN – 07:00 – Prust, fighting major
MTL PEN – 12:01 – Moen, high sticking
TOR PEN – 18:21 – Kostka, interference

2nd Period
MTL PEN – 07:14 – Plekanec, unsportsmanlike conduct
TOR PP GOAL – 08:12 – Bozak (Kessel, Phaneuf)
TOR PEN – 08:53 – van Riemsdyk, interference
TOR PEN – 13:43 – Kadri, boarding
MTL PEN – 15:42 – Desharnais, holding

3rd Period
TOR PEN – 02:30 – Franson, interference
TOR PEN – 12:02 – Grabovski, slashing
MTL PP GOAL – 13:51 – Gionta (Plekanec, Diaz)

GOALTENDERS
TOR – Scrivens (W, 21-22)
MTL – Price (L, 24-26)

SHOTS ON GOAL
TOR – 10+10+6 = 26
MTL – 8+7+7 = 22

ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: James Reimer, Ben Scrivens. Defence: Cody Franson, Carl Gunnarsson, Mike Komisarek, Michael Kostka, John-Michael Liles, Dion Phaneuf (C). Forwards: Tyler Bozak, Mike Brown, Mikhail Grabovski, Nazem Kadri, Phil Kessel, Leo Komarov, Nikolai Kulemin, Joffrey Lupul (A), Clarke MacArthur (A), Jay McClement, Colton Orr, James van Riemsdyk.
MTL – Goaltenders: Peter Budaj, Carey Price. Defence: Francis Bouillon, Raphael Diaz, Alexei Emelin, Josh Gorges (A), Tomas Kaberle, Andrei Markov (A). Forwards: Colby Armstrong, René Bourque, Erik Cole, David Desharnais, Lars Eller, Alex Galchenyuk, Brian Gionta (C), Travis Moen, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, Brandon Prust, Ryan White.

TEAM RECORDS
TOR – 1-0-0 (1.000)
MTL – 0-1-0 (.000)

ATTENDANCE
21,273

THREE STARS
⭐ Nazem Kadri (TOR)
⭐⭐ Ben Scrivens (TOR)
⭐⭐⭐ Brian Gionta (MTL)