- Montreal beat Toronto 3-2 to open both teams’ 2026-27 seasons
- Gavin McKenna, Kirill Marchenko and Sergei Bobrovsky all made Leafs debuts
- Read below for the goals, the stat Leafs fans won’t like, and video of Dobes and Tavares after the horn
The Canadiens crashed the party in Toronto.
Montreal beat the Maple Leafs 3-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night, spoiling Gavin McKenna’s NHL debut and handing Toronto its first home-opener loss of the Auston Matthews era. The Leafs had won all 10 home openers since Matthews arrived in 2016-17.
It started great for the home side. William Nylander stepped around Nick Suzuki at the blue line and ripped one upstairs 48 seconds in, scoring the first goal of the 2026-27 NHL season. That tied Zdenek Nedved’s 1995 mark for the fourth-fastest goal to start a season opener in franchise history.
Here’s Nylander’s opener:
Kirill Marchenko, acquired from Columbus on Monday, picked up the secondary assist in his first game as a Leaf. Toronto signed him to an extension right after the Matthew Knies trade.
Josh Anderson evened it at 10:53 of the first, batting a rebound out of mid-air. Zachary Bolduc then gave the Habs the lead 4:52 into the second after Mike Matheson cut to the net and fed him in the slot.
Watch Bolduc’s go-ahead goal:
Alexandre Carrier beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side at 13:12 of the third to make it 3-1. Nylander got his second with 4:14 left, but Toronto couldn’t find the equalizer.
Jakub Dobes made 26 saves on 28 shots for Montreal. Bobrovsky stopped 21 of 24 in his first regular-season game with the Leafs.
McKenna, the No. 1 overall pick, played 15:19 and finished with one shot and no points. Matthews had three shots in 22:34 and was held off the scoresheet. The rookie had a quiet preseason debut against these same Canadiens back on Sept. 19 too.
Things got chippy at the final horn. Dobes and John Tavares got tangled up in the crease, and Tavares took a roughing minor as the clock hit zero.
Check out Dobes and Tavares going at it:
Last spring, Montreal went to the Eastern Conference Final while Toronto missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Opening night looked a lot like last season’s standings.
Toronto gets a quick shot at their first win when they host the Islanders on Wednesday. The Canadiens visit the Penguins on Saturday.
