Canadiens recover, top Maple Leafs in shootout

TORONTO --The Montreal Canadiens rallied with four goals in the third period and then had to recover for a 6-5 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

The Canadiens scored four times in 9:53 to take a 5-4 lead before Auston Matthews tied it 5-5 with 1:15 remaining in the third period and goalie Michael Hutchinson pulled for the extra skater.
"That's what we're all about. We're resilient, we're going to work and continue to push," Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said. "We've been through this many times. We remember being in this building being up three goals (last season) and them coming back on us, so it's kind of nice to return the favor."
WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Gallagher had a goal and two assists, Max Domi and Phillip Danault each had a goal and an assist, and Carey Price made 32 saves for the Canadiens (1-0-1). Paul Byron scored the only goal in the shootout.
"It wasn't a great start for us," Canadiens captain Shea Weber said. "For whatever reason, they were just on top of us for a couple periods. We didn't panic and just kind of hit the reset button."
Matthews scored two goals, Alex Kerfoot had a goal and two assists, Trevor Moore had a goal and an assist, and Hutchinson made 37 saves for the Maple Leafs (2-0-1).
"We were back to back (defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday), it's no secret probably we're going to be fatigued, but we can't let that get in the way of us making boneheaded mistakes and costing us opportunities on the other end that they're capitalizing on," Matthews said. "It's definitely something we can learn on. We've run into it in the past, but it's on us to make sure no matter how tired we are, we're making good decisions and taking care of the puck."

After William Nylander scored on the power play at 5:16 of the third period to give Toronto a 4-1 lead, Jonathan Drouin scored 11 seconds later when his centering attempt went off Morgan Rielly's skate to cut it to 4-2. Gallagher scored at 6:29 on a rebound in front to make it 4-3.
Jeff Petry scored on a penalty shot at 13:02 to tie it 4-4. It was awarded after Maple Leafs forward Kasperi Kapanen threw his broken stick at Petry, who had the puck at the point.
"Whether it was a penalty shot or on the power play, it was a good goal to be able to get the team going again," Petry said. "We scored shortly after that again. It was a good way to come back. I don't practice it very often."
Kapanen, who had his stick broken after blocking Petry's initial shot, said his intention was not to throw the stick directly at the Canadiens defenseman.
"I didn't think I was even going to hit him, but I just threw my stick that way and I hit him, and I guess you get a penalty shot for that," Kapanen said. "I take full responsibility for my actions, and they tied it up, so obviously I feel bad about it. It's a big mistake on my part."
Danault put in a loose puck during a scramble at 15:20 to give Montreal a 5-4 lead.

Domi made it 1-0 at 1:08 of the first period on a 2-on-1 with Artturi Lehkonen. Matthews tied it 1-1 at 5:57 with a one-timer off a pass from Rielly, and Kerfoot made it 2-1 at 15:54 when he one-timed a pass in the slot from Moore, who stole the puck from Nick Suzuki behind the net.
Moore extended the lead to 3-1 at 1:29 of the second period when he took a pass from Ilya Mikheyev on a 2-on-1 and scored blocker side.

They said it

"We definitely weren't happy with the first two periods. We were the fresh team and yet we were sloppy and not making good decisions. After two periods, we were an extremely frustrated team, so we came in the room and it was a matter of refocusing and trying to get our game back on track, and the guys did a good job of it." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"He made a reactionary move and I don't think he realized what the consequences were. It was a mistake, and I know he'll bounce back from it and we're there for him. It happens, but we had our opportunities after that." -- Maple Leafs captain John Tavares on Kasperi Kapanen

Need to know

Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza was a healthy scratch for the second time this season. ... Matthews is the third player in Toronto history to have multiple season-opening goal streaks of at least three games (also did it in 2018-19), joining Corb Denneny (1917-18, 1921-22) and Babe Dye (1921-22, 1925-26). … Kerfoot's three points tied his NHL high.

What's next

Canadiens:At the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, MSG-B, RDS, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs:Host the St. Louis Blues on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, TSN4, FS-MW, NHL.TV)