Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs
· National Hockey League
Carrier's goal late in the 3rd period helps Canadiens beat Maple Leafs 3-2
Zachary Bolduc also scored for Montreal, which got 25 saves from Jakub Dobes.
William Nylander scored twice for Toronto. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots in his first game with the Maple Leafs.
No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna and Russian winger Kirill Marchenko also made their Toronto debuts – along with seven other teammates – following an off-season of change after the Original Six franchise missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade last spring.
The Canadiens, meanwhile, are coming off a campaign that saw them take a massive step following a long before falling to the Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final.
Nylander opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the first period when he stepped around Montreal captain and reigning Selke Trophy winner Nick Suzuki at the blue line before ripping a high shot past Dobes. Nylander tied Zdenek Nedved (Oct. 7, 1995) for the fourth-fastest goal to start a season-opener in franchise history.
Anderson tied the score at 10:53 when he batted a rebound out of the air in front. Bolduc gave Montreal the lead, scoring from the slot at 4:52 of the second, and Carrier beat Bobrovsky on the glove side at 13:12 of the third.
Nylander cut the deficit to a goal with 4:14 left in regulation.
Maple Leafs: Host the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
Regular Season SeriesMTL leads series 1-0
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 0:48 | William Nylander Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Morgan Rielly (1), Kirill Marchenko (1) |
 |
Goal | 1st Period 10:53 | Josh Anderson Goal (1) Batted, assists: Alexandre Carrier (1), Kirby Dach (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 4:52 | Zachary Bolduc Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Mike Matheson (1), Josh Anderson (1) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 13:12 | Alexandre Carrier Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: none |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 15:46 | William Nylander Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Easton Cowan (1), John Tavares (1) |
Statistics
 MTL |
 TOR |
|
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Blocked Shots | 14 |
| 28 | Hits | 23 |
| 7 | Takeaways | 2 |
| 24 | Shots | 28 |
| 0 | Power Play Goals | 0 |
| 2 | Power Play Opportunities | 3 |
| 0.0 | Power Play Percentage | 0.0 |
| 0 | Short Handed Goals | 0 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 32 | Faceoffs Won | 21 |
| 60.4 | Faceoff Win Percent | 39.6 |
| 22 | Giveaways | 21 |
| 4 | Total Penalties | 4 |
| 8 | Penalty Minutes | 8 |
Toronto Maple Leafs Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| John Tavares, C | Injured Reserve | Oct 17 |
| Dakota Joshua, C | Injured Reserve | Oct 17 |
| Miles Wood, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 15 |
| Chris Tanev, D | Injured Reserve | Oct 15 |
| Max Domi, C | Injured Reserve | Sep 30 |
Montreal Canadiens Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Matheson, D | Out | Oct 17 |
| Florian Xhekaj, LW | Injured Reserve | Oct 17 |
| Sam Montembeault, G | Injured Reserve | Oct 10 |
| Ivan Demidov, RW | Injured Reserve | Oct 6 |
| Bryce Pickford, D | Injured Reserve | Sep 29 |
