It would appear the Toronto Maple Leafs are that good.
On Wednesday night in Montreal, the Leafs defeated the Canadiens, 4-2.
Toronto improved to 11-2-1.
The surprise was that Auston Matthews had a single assist, no goals, in the win.
“There were just periods in the game where they kind of put their foot on the gas and we were back on our heels, and vice versa,” Matthews said. “So that’s a good team over there all throughout their lineup. They’ve got a lot of depth, great goaltending, and they play really tight defensively. So I think it’s a testament to our game tonight, just sticking with it and big goals by our guys, and hanging on at the end.”
The Maple Leafs turned a 1-1 game into a two-goal lead when Justin Holl and Ilya Mikheyev scored 42 seconds apart in the third period to make it 3-1.
“Four times we had the puck and gave it back to them in our zone before they scored that goal,” Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. “So that took the wind out of our sails a bit and gave them some energy.”
Frederik Andersen made 33 saves to get the win.
“We didn’t give them much at all,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “In fact I had this the lowest number of scoring chances we gave up all season.”
Josh Anderson and Tomas Tatar were the Habs’ strikers.
“I think today it was a disappointing loss because I don’t think we were that bad,” the Canadiens’ Joel Armia said. “There’s some areas we have to be better, and things like winning battles and staying strong on the puck, but I don’t know what the reason is for that.”
Travis Dermott also scored for Toronto.
“Most importantly it was a good win,” Toronto’s John Tavares said. “Obviously a lot of importance on the game and the guys were excited about the opportunity knowing it’s a strong Montreal team. It wasn’t our best for the first two periods but we got better as the game went on and we didn’t give up a lot and just got our game going.”
Zach Hyman added an empty-net goal for the final.
Carey Price made 20 saves in the loss.
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