Preseason Game 55
Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 0
Monday, September 23, 2019
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

Michael Hutchinson made 38 saves for the shutout and Yegor Korshkov scored twice as the Toronto Maple Leafs blanked the Montréal Canadiens 3-0 on Monday in pre-season play.

Darren Archibald also scored for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 2-3-0 in the pre-season. Nic Petan had two assists.

Charlie Lindgren stopped 22-of-25 shots as the Canadiens (4-1-0) dropped their first exhibition match.

Montréal outshot the Maple Leafs 38-25.

Toronto’s top young prospects were on display, with the team’s biggest stars not making the trip.

Forwards John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander were not in the lineup for the Maple Leafs. Defencemen Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin, along with goaltender Frederik Andersen, also did not play.

The Canadiens dressed Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin, Tomas Tatar and Jeff Petry on defence.

But it was the youngsters who took it to the handful of Canadiens veterans.

After a scoreless first period, the visitors struck first at 1:05 of the second. With Toronto on the power play, Korshkov crashed the net and fired a pass from Petan behind Lindgren.

The Leafs doubled their lead five minutes later through Archibald’s first of the pre-season. The 29-year-old, who has played 55 NHL games with the Canucks and Senators, drove hard to the net and cashed in Petan’s rebound.

Korshkov made it 3-0 for Toronto on a strong individual effort at 8:04 of the third. The Russian stripped the puck off Brett Kulak in Montréal’s end before snapping a quick release into the roof of the net.

Michal Neuvirth was supposed to share the net with Hutchinson on Monday, but the former Flyers goaltender did not travel to Montréal. Neuvirth, who is on a professional tryout with the Leafs, is battling Hutchinson for the backup job.

Instead, the 29-year-old Hutchinson from Barrie, Ont., played a full 60 minutes and frustrated Canadiens players throughout.

With Toronto leading 2-0 in the final frame, Hutchinson made big saves on Tatar on the power play, Nick Cousins from the crease and Alex Belzile alone in front to preserve the two-goal lead.

A pre-season rematch is scheduled for Wednesday, with the Leafs hosting the Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena.

Toronto opens its regular season at home against the Ottawa Senators on October 2 while Montréal’s first game is October 3 at the Carolina Hurricanes.

NOTES: Canadiens defenceman Karl Alzner, recently recovered from a groin injury, made his pre-season debut.

Story property of TSN, photo property of SB Nation

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
TOR PEN – 05:38 – Liljegren, hooking
MTL PEN – 15:57 – Barber, hooking

2nd Period
MTL PEN – 00:27 – Domi, delay of game
TOR GOAL – 01:05 – Korshkov (Petan)
TOR PEN – 02:04 – Holl, hooking
TOR GOAL – 05:56 – Archibald (Petan, Liljegren)
MTL PEN – 05:56 – team, delay of game
MTL PEN – 07:03 – Evans, tripping
MTL PEN – 10:36 – Kulak, interference
TOR PEN – 14:06 – Schmaltz, hooking
TOR PEN – 19:47 – Harpur, tripping

3rd Period
TOR GOAL – 08:04 – Korshkov

GOALTENDERS
TOR – Hutchinson (W + SO, 38-38)
MTL – Lindgren (L, 22-25)

SHOTS ON GOAL
TOR – 10+10+5 = 25
MTL – 7+12+19 = 38

ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Michael Hutchinson, Joseph Woll. Defence: Kevin Gravel, Ben Harpur, Justin Holl (A), Timothy Liljegren, Jordan Schmaltz. Forwards: Pontus Aberg, Kenny Agostino (A), Darren Archibald, Jeremy Bracco, Adam Brooks, Hudson Elynuik, Pierre Engvall, Tyler Gaudet, Yegor Korshkov, Nic Petan, Matt Read, Kristians Rubins, Nick Shore (A).
MTL – Goaltenders: Keith Kinkaid, Charlie Lindgren. Defence: Karl Alzner, Josh Brook, Ben Chiarot, Cale Fleury, Brett Kulak, Jeff Petry (A). Forwards: Joel Armia, Riley Barber, Alex Belzile, Nick Cousins, Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin, Jake Evans, Charles Hudon, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Matthew Peca, Tomas Tatar (A), Nate Thompson (A).

THREE STARS
⭐ Yegor Korshkov (TOR)
⭐⭐ Michael Hutchinson (TOR)
⭐⭐⭐ Nate Thompson (MTL)