Preseason Game 70
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT)
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec
Cole Caufield scored with 38 seconds left in overtime, lifting the Montréal Canadiens to a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre in Montréal on Saturday.
With the Maple Leafs making a change, Caufield made a move around Logan Shaw at the offensive blue line and finished a 2-on-0 give-and-go with Lane Hutson by scoring over Samuel Hlavaj’s outstretched left pad.
Hutson had a goal and two assists, and Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov scored for the Canadiens. Jakub Dobes made nine saves on 11 shots before being replaced by Jacob Fowler midway through the second period. Fowler made nine saves.
Chris Kreider was held without a point in his debut with Montréal, finishing with one shot on goal in 17:05 of ice time. The forward signed a one-year contract with the Canadiens on September 12, two days after the Anaheim Ducks terminated his contract.
Henrik Rybinski had a goal and an assist, and Colton Sissons scored in his Maple Leafs debut. Artur Akhtyamov made 13 saves on 15 shots before being replaced midway through the second by Hlavaj, who also made 13 saves.
It was one of two split-squad games the teams played against each other on opening night of the NHL preseason.
Slafkovsky put Montréal in front 1-0 at 4:27 of the first period with a tip-in, and Demidov pushed it to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 12:04 when he scored with a one-timer from low in the right face-off circle.
Toronto then scored three straight goals to take the lead, starting with Rybinski’s power-play goal from the doorstep at 3:56 of the second to make it 2-1. Sissons, who signed a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs on July 1, then tied it 2-2 at 8:32 with a deflection of Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot through traffic on the man-advantage, and Marc Johnstone gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 16:21 by knocking in Rybinski’s backhand pass at the edge of the crease.
Hutson tied it 3-3 at 2:43 of the third period. He got to a loose puck and snapped a wrist shot from the left hash marks to the far side.
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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL GOAL – 04:27 – Slafkovsky (Mittelstadt, Samson)
TOR PEN – 05:32 – Pezzetta, instigator + fighting major + 10 min. misconduct
MTL PEN – 05:32 – Condotta, interference + fighting major
TOR PEN – 10:07 – Blueger, unsportsmanlike conduct + fighting major
MTL PEN – 10:07 – Samson, fighting major
TOR PEN – 11:19 – team, too many players
MTL PP2 GOAL – 12:04 – Demidov (Hutson)
MTL PEN – 18:48 – Kapanen, tripping
2nd Period
MTL PEN – 01:56 – Pastujov, high sticking
TOR PP GOAL – 03:56 – Rybinski (Tverberg, Brisson)
MTL PEN – 06:38 – Belzile, tripping
TOR PP GOAL – 08:32 – Sissons (Ekman-Larsson, Cowan)
TOR GOAL – 16:21 – Johnstone (Rybinski, Pezzetta)
3rd Period
MTL GOAL – 02:43 – Hutson (Davidson, Belzile)
TOR PEN – 17:06 – Brisson, roughing
MTL PEN – 17:06 – Xhekaj, roughing
Overtime
MTL PEN – 01:46 – Slafkovsky, roughing
MTL GOAL – 04:22 – Caufield (Hutson, Carrier)
GOALTENDERS
MTL – Dobes (9-11), Fowler (W, 9-10)
TOR – Akhtyamov (13-15), Hlavaj (OTL, 13-15)
SHOTS ON GOAL
MTL – 13+6+9+2 = 30
TOR – 2+13+5+1 = 21
ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Jakub Dobes, Jacob Fowler. Defence: Alexandre Carrier (A), Lane Hutson, Luke Mittelstadt, Ethan Samson, Jayden Struble, Arber Xhekaj. Forwards: Owen Beck, Alex Belzile, Cole Caufield (A), Lucas Condotta, Jared Davidson, Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen, Chris Kreider, Sasha Pastujov, Juraj Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki (C), Tyler Thorpe.
TOR – Goaltenders: Artur Akhtyamov, Samuel Hlavaj. Defence: Nick Blankenburg, Noah Chadwick, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (A), Cole McWard, Dakota Mermis, Troy Stecher. Forwards: Teddy Blueger, Brendan Brisson, Easton Cowan, Brandon Duhaime, Marc Johnstone, Vinni Lettieri, Nick Paul (A), Michael Pezzetta, Henrik Rybinski, Logan Shaw, Colton Sissons (A), Ryan Tverberg.
ATTENDANCE
20,962
THREE STARS
⭐ Cole Caufield (MTL)
⭐⭐ Ivan Demidov (MTL)
⭐⭐⭐ Lane Hutson (MTL)
Two Solitudes 