The Canadian once again played with enthusiasm, Saturday night at the Bell Center, and he pleased his supporters by beating his old rivals.
Paul Byron scored late in the third period, Jake Allen made 49 saves and the Montreal team defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2.
Byron scored with 2:28 to go, beating goaltender Erik Kallgren with a low shot on a 2-on-1 attack. Christian Dvorak, with help from Byron, then added an empty-netter insurance goal with 22.7 seconds left.
The Habs had escaped victory by a score of 4-3 against the Florida Panthers, another powerhouse in the Atlantic Division. This time, he completed the task and scored only a third win in his last nine outings (3-3-3).
David Savard and Cole Caufield also scored for the Canadiens (18-37-10). Nick Suzuki had two assists.
Auston Matthews and William Nylander hit the target for the Maple Leafs (40-19-5). Mitchell Marner had two assists and Kallgren stopped 15 shots.
Notable absentees
The Canadiens announced earlier today that defender Jeff Petry will be out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, William Lagesson made his debut in his new uniform.
The Habs were also without assistant coach Luke Richardson. The team announced about an hour before the start of the game that Richardson had to undergo the NHL’s protocol related to COVID-19.
Forwards Michael Pezzetta and Tyler Pitlick did not finish the game, both with upper body injuries.
The Canadian will be back in action on Sunday night, when he visits the New Jersey Devils.
Candy for spectators
The Maple Leafs opened the scoring early, when Matthews scored just 36 seconds into the game with a perfect one-timer. Michael Bunting’s forecheck got Joel Edmundson and Lagesson in trouble on the streak.
The Canadian was bottled up in his territory afterwards and racked up the disallowed clearances. Allen had to be alert to make tough saves at the expense of Pierre Engvall and then Alexander Kerfoot.
Mike Hoffman finally managed the first shot on goal for the Canadian after 8:56 of play.
History seemed set to repeat itself in the second period, as the Leafs had another long presence in Habs territory early in the frame.
Dvorak, however, beat Kallgren at 4:18, and even if the goal was disallowed because there was offside when entering the zone, the Canadian seemed to find his way around.
Savard also tied the game at 1-1 at 9:44, deflecting a perfect pass from Laurent Dauphin behind the Leafs goaltender.
The Canadian kept knocking on the door and was rewarded with 1:52 left in the second period, when Caufield hit the target on the power play. The rookie forward outsmarted Kallgren with an accurate shot to the top of the short side.
The Canadian played with fire in the third period by taking two penalties early in the engagement. The Maple Leafs took the opportunity to tie the game at 7:33. Nylander took advantage of a comeback to score.
Allen managed to stop the game moments later, while the Canadian was still outnumbered. Marner thought he had an empty net in front of him, but Allen stopped the Maple Leafs forward’s one-timer with his shield.
Kallgren was also reported a little later, extending the right leg to frustrate Savard, alone in front of him in numerical inferiority.
The Leafs goaltender, however, was powerless in front of Byron with 2:28 left in regulation.