A Season Begins with One Sentence, and Montreal Writes It Well

There is a particular kind of promise that arrives with the first game of a long season. It is not yet a verdict, only an opening sentence—an unfinished thought that will take eighty-three more nights to complete. On a Tuesday evening in Toronto, the Montreal Canadiens began writing theirs with a 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs, a scoreline that felt less like a statement than a quiet nod toward the work ahead.

The game began inauspiciously for Montreal. Just forty-eight seconds in, William Nylander slipped past Nick Suzuki at the blue line and beat Jakub Dobes to give Toronto an early lead. For a team that had struggled with slow starts throughout the previous season, the opening minutes carried an uncomfortable familiarity. The Maple Leafs held a 7-1 shot advantage after eight minutes, and the ghosts of last year's flat beginnings seemed to linger in the air.

But this Canadiens team is not the same one that spent years as an underdog. The response came midway through the first period. Josh Anderson, continuing the form that defined his standout playoff run, waited patiently for a high rebound to descend below the crossbar before batting it home—a small moment of discipline that spoke to a larger maturity. The goal was set up by Kirby Dach, who shook off a quiet preseason to contribute a key assist.

Montreal took the lead in the second period on a Zachary Bolduc tally, the product of Mike Matheson driving to the net and a rebound finding a hungry stick. Alexandre Carrier added what proved to be the game-winner in the third, a 55-foot shot from the point that Sergei Bobrovsky never saw through traffic. Nylander would score again to narrow the margin, but the Canadiens held firm.

The evening's quiet hero was Dobes, making his first start as a bona fide NHL number one. After allowing the early goal, he was composed and sharp, stopping 26 shots and finishing with a goals saved above expected of 0.48. He challenged shooters, moved with purpose, and gave his team the stability it needed while the skaters found their rhythm.

There were questions left unanswered, as there always are after one game. The new top line with Chris Kreider, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield did not produce as expected, and Martin St. Louis acknowledged that adaptation takes time. The team's tendency to retreat into a defensive shell while protecting a lead also resurfaced, though this time they survived it.

The Canadiens will carry this win to Pittsburgh on Saturday, their record briefly perfect and their season still unwritten. The first sentence has been set down. The rest remains to be seen.

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Sources: Global News, NHL.com, The Athletic, Toronto Sun, The Canadian Press