Game 767
Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 2
Saturday, March 9, 2024
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

John Tavares scored the go-ahead goal with 6:46 remaining in the third period for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 win against the Montréal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Tavares pushed the puck over the line from the left edge of the crease at 13:14 after battling for position with Tanner Pearson.

“They came out with a lot of jump, a lot of energy,” said Tavares, who reached the 20-goal mark for the 14th time in his 15 NHL seasons. “They got the start they wanted, certainly not what we wanted, but I liked how we just stayed with it. You know, offensively, it hasn’t been the greatest week for us. Things haven’t been clicking as well as we’d like, but I just like the way we stayed with it and found a way to earn the opportunities that we got and made the most of them.”

Max Domi had a goal and an assist, and Bobby McMann scored for the Maple Leafs (37-19-8), who have won four of their past six. Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves.

“First of all, a lot of credit to the Habs,” Domi said. “They came out flying and I don’t think we were at the best of our game early on, but we found a way to stick with it. (Samsonov) was great, the PK was great tonight and we capitalized on our chances tonight. A lot of resilience tonight, showed a lot of character, it was a huge win.”

Mike Matheson had a goal and an assist, Alex Newhook scored and Juraj Slafkovsky had two assists for the Canadiens (24-30-10), who have lost four of their past five (1-2-2). Sam Montembeault made 24 saves.

“They’re a great team over there with a lot of superstar power and I thought we were solid against it all night long,” Matheson said. “There’s two sides to it where obviously we played a great game, and then the competitor in me is still frustrated to play that well against a team like that and not come away with a win.”

Matheson gave Montréal a 1-0 lead 36 seconds into the first period. He cut across the goalmouth, took a return pass from Cole Caufield and tucked a backhand around Samsonov.

McMann tied it 1-1 39 seconds into the second period, shooting past Montembeault’s blocker from the right side on a 2-on-1.

“I just thought (McMann) played an outstanding game with lots of confidence,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He was just strong, hard on the puck, lots of urgency to his game. I thought their team had a hard time handling him, so it was a really good showing for him.”

Domi put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1 at 18:41 on the rush when he flipped a shot in under Montembeault’s left arm after catching up with a long pass by Calle Jarnkrok from the Montréal offensive zone.

“That’s like a (former NFL quarterback) Tom Brady pass by ‘Jarny,’” Domi said. “It might have been a Randy Moss kind of thing, but I just took off. He’s such a smart player and I had a step on the D and got a little lucky.”

Newhook tied it 2-2 at 5:05 of the third on the power play, taking Slafkovsky’s pass from the right boards and scoring on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

“We came back from a long road trip, we wanted to use that Saturday night energy at the Bell Centre, and I think the guys worked hard,” Montembeault said. “It’s unfortunate that bounce at the end on the third goal, even their two other goals, it was just a bounce in the neutral zone. I think we played really well in their zone tonight. We didn’t give them much and I’m really happy with the effort of the guys tonight.”

NOTES: Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner did not play because of a lower-body injury that will be further assessed in Toronto…Defenceman Joel Edmundson and forward Connor Dewar each made their Maple Leafs debut. Edmundson, who was acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Thursday, had one shot on goal in 19:03 of ice time. Dewar, acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Friday, played 11:13…McMann has scored eight goals in his past 14 games. Only Tavares (12 goals) and William Nylander (nine) have scored more over that span for Toronto…Slafkovsky, who turns 20 on March 30, has 43 points (17 goals, 26 assists) in 103 NHL games. He passed Jesperi Kotkaniemi for the fourth-most points by a teenager in Canadiens history behind Mario Tremblay (66 points), Alex Galchenyuk (50), and Petr Svoboda (45).

Story property of NHL.com, image property of AP News

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL GOAL – 00:38 – Matheson (Caufield, Slafkovsky)

2nd Period
TOR GOAL – 00:39 – McMann (Kampf)
MTL PEN – 09:43 – Evans, high sticking
TOR PEN – 10:09 – Rielly, holding
TOR PEN – 13:48 – McMann, kneeing
TOR GOAL – 18:41 – Domi (Jarnkrok)
MTL PEN – 20:00 – Savard, roughing
TOR PEN – 20:00 – Tavares, roughing
MTL PEN – 20:00 – Xhekaj, roughing

3rd Period
TOR PEN – 04:15 – Liljegren, holding
MTL PP GOAL – 05:05 – Newhook (Slafkovsky, Matheson)
TOR GOAL – 13:14 – Tavares (McCabe, Domi)
TOR PEN – 17:01 – Jarnkrok, tripping

GOALTENDERS
TOR – Samsonov (W, 29-31)
MTL – Montembeault (L, 24-27)

SHOTS ON GOAL
TOR – 9+10+8 = 27
MTL – 9+13+9 = 31

ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll. Defence: T.J. Brodie, Joel Edmundson, Timothy Liljegren, Ilya Lyubushkin, Jake McCabe, Morgan Rielly (A). Forwards: Tyler Bertuzzi, Connor Dewar, Max Domi, Pontus Holmberg, Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf, Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews (A), Bobby McMann, William Nylander, Ryan Reaves, John Tavares (C).
MTL – Goaltenders: Sam Montembeault, Cayden Primeau. Defence: Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Mike Matheson (A), David Savard, Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj. Forwards: Josh Anderson, Joel Armia, Cole Caufield, Jake Evans, Brendan Gallagher (A), Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Alex Newhook, Tanner Pearson, Michael Pezzetta, Joshua Roy, Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki (C).

TEAM RECORDS
TOR – 37-19-8 (.641)
MTL – 24-30-10 (.453)

ATTENDANCE
21,105

THREE STARS
⭐ Max Domi (TOR)
⭐⭐ Juraj Slafkovsky (MTL)
⭐⭐⭐ Bobby McMann (TOR)