Game 746
Canadiens 5, Maple Leafs 2
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

Jonathan Drouin scored two of the Montréal Canadiens’ three breakaway goals in a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Joel Armia had a goal and an assist, scoring on a breakaway on a power play seven seconds into the third period, and Carey Price made 29 saves for Montréal (5-4-2), which had lost consecutive games.

“You don’t get too many chances to get breakaways in this league, so I want to make sure I bury those when I get a chance,” Drouin said. “And I was happy to bury two, and lucky to get two breakaways.”

Jake Muzzin and Andreas Johnsson scored, and Michael Hutchinson made 33 saves for Toronto (6-5-2), which lost the second of back-to-back games.

The Maple Leafs, with Frederik Andersen in goal, defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Friday.

“I didn’t think we were competitive enough in the first period,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we were really competitive and got the game going in the second, and then we gave them three goals in the third, any way you look at it. We made mistakes and they just shot it in the net, so we gifted them those three. It’s disappointing because we had crawled our way back and kind of set the tone.”

Armia gave Montréal its second lead at 3-2 when he stripped the puck from Muzzin after the opening face-off before driving in alone to score his sixth goal on a shot inside the right post.

“Obviously when you get chances and you put the puck in or create chances all the time it’s going to bring your confidence up,” Armia said. “And I’d say it’s pretty much easier to play with a lot of confidence than without any.”

Drouin, who scored on a breakaway in the first, made it 4-2 at 7:40 when he broke in alone again and scored unassisted.

Nick Suzuki increased the lead to 5-2 at 11:53 when he scored his third goal in five games on a pass from Nate Thompson on a 2-on-1.

“You’ve got to credit them, you’ve got to credit their goalie, he made some big saves,” Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews said. “They were pretty good defensively and you can’t give up two breakaways and a 2-on-1 with the game that close, and they obviously capitalized on their opportunities.”

Brendan Gallagher gave Montréal a 1-0 lead with his fifth goal at 7:43 of the first before Drouin beat Hutchinson with a backhand under his pads at 12:34 to make it 2-0.

Muzzin scored for a second straight game to draw Toronto within 2-1 with 16 seconds remaining in the period.

Johnsson’s third goal at 5:52 of the second tied it at 2-2.

NOTES: It was Montréal’s first regulation win in 11 games against Toronto since January 7, 2017. The Maple Leafs had been 7-0-3 in their past 10 games against the Canadiens…Matthews has 17 points (12 goals, five assists) in 13 games against Montréal…Canadiens forward Max Domi had his seven-game point streak end. He had eight points (two goals, six assists) during the streak…Gallagher scored six seconds into the second period of a 5-2 win at the St. Louis Blues on October 19. Claude Provost set the Montréal record for the fastest goal from the start of a period, which is tied for the NHL record, when he scored four seconds into the second period against the Boston Bruins on November 9, 1957.

Story property of NHL.com, photo property of SB Nation

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL GOAL – 07:43 – Gallagher (Tatar, Reilly)
MTL GOAL – 12:34 – Drouin (Armia)
TOR PEN – 15:57 – Muzzin, hooking
TOR GOAL – 19:44 – Muzzin (Marner, Mikheyev)

2nd Period
TOR GOAL – 05:52 – Johnsson (Matthews, Rielly)
MTL PEN – 15:37 – Drouin, slashing
TOR PEN – 18:59 – Kerfoot, boarding

3rd Period
MTL PP GOAL – 00:07 – Armia
MTL GOAL – 07:40 – Drouin
MTL GOAL – 11:53 – Suzuki (Thompson, Cousins)

GOALTENDERS
MTL – Price (W, 29-31)
TOR – Hutchinson (L, 33-38)

SHOTS ON GOAL
MTL – 19+9+10 = 38
TOR – 5+15+11 = 31

ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Keith Kinkaid, Carey Price. Defence: Ben Chiarot, Cale Fleury, Victor Mete, Jeff Petry, Mike Reilly, Shea Weber (C). Forwards: Joel Armia, Paul Byron (A), Nick Cousins, Phillip Danault, Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin, Brendan Gallagher (A), Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Artturi Lehkonen, Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar, Nate Thomspon.
TOR – Goaltenders: Frederik Andersen, Michael Hutchinson. Defence: Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Kevin Gravel, Justin Holl, Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly (A). Forwards: Frédérik Gauthier, Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen, Alexander Kerfoot, Mitchell Marner (A), Auston Matthews (A), Ilya Mikheyev, Trevor Moore, William Nylander, Nick Shore, Jason Spezza, Dmytro Timashov.

TEAM RECORDS
MTL – 5-4-2 (.545)
TOR – 6-5-2 (.538)

ATTENDANCE
21,302

THREE STARS
⭐ Jonathan Drouin (MTL)
⭐⭐ Joel Armia (MTL)
⭐⭐⭐ Brendan Gallagher (MTL)