Preseason Game 68
Maple Leafs 7, Canadiens 2
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

Scott Laughton scored twice and added two assists to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-2 victory over the Montréal Canadiens in NHL preseason action on Thursday at Bell Centre.

After the game, the Canadiens announced that defencemen Kaiden Guhle and Noah Dobson were day-to-day with groin injuries. Guhle was a late scratch while Dobson left the game and did not return.

Another Montréal blueliner, David Reinbacher, also left the game early. An update on his status was expected Friday.

Laughton opened the scoring at 4:35 of the first period and made it 2-0 when he tallied at 13:15.

Montréal’s Mike Matheson halved the deficit with a power-play goal at 16:26 but Bobby McMann answered 31 seconds later to make it 3-1.

Patrik Laine scored a power-play goal at 5:08 of the second period before Steven Lorentz scored a pair of goals 97 seconds apart.

Matt Benning and Ryan Tverberg tallied in the third period as the Maple Leafs pulled away.

Toronto netminder Dennis Hildeby made 11 saves.

Montréal goaltender Sam Montembeault stopped 12 shots over two periods. Jacob Fowler made six saves over 20 minutes of work.

Story property of TSN, photo property of RDS

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
TOR GOAL – 04:35 – Laughton
TOR GOAL – 13:15 – Laughton (McMann, Maccelli)
TOR PEN – 14:34 – Lettieri, tripping
MTL PP GOAL – 16:26 – Matheson (Suzuki, Caufield)
TOR GOAL – 16:56 – McMann (Benning, Maccelli)
MTL PEN – 18:41 – Laine, slashing

2nd Period
TOR PEN – 03:23 – Mermis, hooking
MTL PP GOAL – 05:07 – Laine (Demidov, Mesar)
MTL PEN – 06:32 – Xhekaj, boarding
TOR PP GOAL – 08:32 – Lorentz (Laughton, Thrun)
TOR GOAL – 10:09 – Lorentz (Laughton)
MTL PEN – 13:38 – Xhekaj, roughing
TOR PEN – 17:02 – Thrun, tripping

3rd Period
TOR GOAL – 05:03 – Benning (Lorentz, Cowan)
TOR PEN – 06:44 – Tverberg, high sticking
TOR PEN – 09:41 – Myers, hooking
TOR GOAL – 12:23 – Tverberg (Myers)
MTL PEN – 18:06 – Tuch, 10 min. misconduct
TOR PEN – 18:06 – Mermis, 10 min. misconduct

GOALTENDERS
TOR – Hildeby (W, 11-13)
MTL – Montembeault (L, 12-17), Fowler (6-8)

SHOTS ON GOAL
TOR – 6+11+8 = 25
MTL – 5+4+4 = 13

ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Dennis Hildeby, Vyacheslav Peksa. Defence: Matt Benning, Dakota Mermis, Philippe Myers, Marshall Rifai, Henry Thrun, Cade Webber. Forwards: Easton Cowan, Bo Groulx, Dakota Joshua, David Kampf (A), Scott Laughton (A), Vinni Lettieri, Steven Lorentz (A), Matias Maccelli, Bobby McMann, Michael Pezzetta, Jacob Quillan, Ryan Tverberg.
MTL – Goaltenders: Jacob Fowler, Sam Montembeault. Defence: Nathan Clurman, Marc Del Gaizo, Noah Dobson (A), Mike Matheson (A), Ryan O’Rourke, David Reinbacher. Forwards: Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Jared Davidson, Ivan Demidov, Patrik Laine, Filip Mesar, Vinzenz Rohrer, Joshua Roy, Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki (C), Luke Tuch, Florian Xhekaj.

ATTENDANCE
20,962

THREE STARS
⭐ Scott Laughton (TOR)
⭐⭐ Steven Lorentz (TOR)
⭐⭐⭐ Matt Benning (TOR)