Game 737
Maple Leafs 4, Canadiens 3 (OT)
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game at 48 seconds of overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 win against the Montréal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Matthews shot past Carey Price on a 2-on-1 for his fifth goal to end Toronto’s 14-game losing streak (0-9-5) against Montréal. It was the Maple Leafs’ first win against the Canadiens since a 5-3 victory at Air Canada Centre on January 18, 2014.

“It’s always a hostile environment when we come in here and it’s obviously a great atmosphere, so to come out with two points, it’s what we came here to do and we’re going to take it and move on here,” said Matthews, who leads Toronto with eight points (five goals, three assists) in five games.

James van Riemsdyk and Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto (4-1-0), which matched its best start since 2013-14.

Frederik Andersen made 31 saves, including 13 in the third period and one in overtime.

“Anytime you come in here you’re playing (Price), he’s the best there is in the League,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “It’s great to look down the rink at him and you’ve got to beat him one on one. You’ve got to be better than him if you’re going to win, so I thought (Andersen) did a good job tonight.”

Jonathan Drouin scored his first Montréal goal and had an assist for the first multi-point game by a Canadiens player this season.

Jeff Petry and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Montréal (1-3-1), which scored four goals in its first four games. Carey Price made 18 saves.

“We’ll take the point,” Drouin said. “We’d rather have two, but I think we’re heading in the right direction. Scoring three goals is a good step offensively, but we still have some things to work on.”

The Canadiens last started 1-3-1 in 2011-12.

Drouin gave Montréal a 3-2 lead when he used his backhand to redirect Karl Alzner’s slap pass from the left point past Andersen at 11:33 of the second period.

Marleau tied it at 3-3 with his third goal at 12:40. The goal was initially waved off, but a video review confirmed that the puck had crossed the goal line.

Petry gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period. He skated into the Maple Leafs’ zone to take a pass from Drouin at the right point and one-timed a slap shot past Andersen and inside the left post.

van Riemsdyk drew the Maple Leafs even at 1-1 with his fourth goal off a faceoff at 7:32.

Matthews put Toronto ahead 2-1 when he extended his point streak to five games with his fourth goal at 8:16.

Galchenyuk tied it at 2-2 at 16:49 with Montréal’s first power-play goal in 15 opportunities this season.

NOTES: It was the Maple Leafs’ first win in Montréal in four years. Toronto was 0-6-2 in its previous eight games at Bell Centre since a 4-3 win on October 1, 2013…Matthews had a goal waved off 19 seconds before Drouin scored. A video review confirmed that he made contact with the puck with a high stick…Maple Leafs defenceman Connor Carrick returned after missing two games because of an upper-body injury…Montréal was 1-for-2 on the power play, and is 1-for-16 through five games.

Story property of NHL.com, photo property of The Globe & Mail

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL GOAL – 02:19 – Petry (Drouin, Lehkonen)
TOR GOAL – 07:32 – van Riemsdyk
TOR GOAL – 08:16 – Matthews
MTL PEN – 10:00 – Alzner, cross checking
TOR PEN – 15:22 – Kadri, high sticking
MTL PP GOAL – 16:49 – Galchenyuk (Hudon)

2nd Period
MTL PEN – 04:04 – Davidson, holding
MTL GOAL – 11:33 – Drouin (Alzner)
TOR GOAL – 12:40 – Marleau (Kadri)
TOR PEN – 17:38 – Bozak, holding

3rd Period
none

Overtime
TOR GOAL – 00:48 – Matthews (Nylander)

GOALTENDERS
TOR – Andersen (W, 31-34)
MTL – Price (OTL, 18-22)

SHOTS ON GOAL
TOR – 8+7+6+1 = 22
MTL – 12+8+13+1 = 34

ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Frederik Andersen, Curtis McElhinney. Defence: Andreas Borgman, Connor Carrick, Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey, Morgan Rielly (A), Nikita Zaitsev. Forwards: Tyler Bozak (A), Connor Brown, Eric Fehr, Zach Hyman, Nazem Kadri, Leo Komarov (A), Patrick Marleau, Mitchell Marner, Matt Martin, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, James van Riemsdyk.
MTL – Goaltenders: Al Montoya, Carey Price. Defence: Karl Alzner, Jordie Benn, Brandon Davidson, Victor Mete, Jeff Petry, Shea Weber (A). Forwards: Paul Byron, Phillip Danault, Jacob de la Rose, Jonathan Drouin, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Ales Hemsky, Charles Hudon, Artturi Lehkonen, Max Pacioretty (C), Tomas Plekanec (A), Andrew Shaw.

TEAM RECORDS
TOR – 4-1-0 (.800)
MTL – 1-3-1 (.300)

ATTENDANCE
21,302

THREE STARS
⭐ Auston Matthews (TOR)
⭐⭐ Jonathan Drouin (MTL)
⭐⭐⭐ Jeff Petry (MTL)