Montreal– The Montreal Canadiens shut down the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 on Monday.
The Canadiens got out to the best start they could wish for, coming out of the gate red hot. Tomas Tatar scored first for the Canadiens 2 minutes in. The Canadiens got a lucky bounce off a Leafs’ skate, and Tatar taps it in. Maple Leafs turned the puck over often, looking confused by the Canadiens’ dominance. After 11 straight wins to start the season, Campbell looked rattled and gave good rebounds to the Canadiens. The Canadiens overwhelmed the Leafs, and Nick Suzuki snapped it to the back of the net on the powerplay.
Down 2, the Leafs settled in. They took a too many men penalty but killed it off and began to set up a cycle in the offensive zone. 10 minutes in, Auston Matthews scored to bring it to a 1-goal game. Mitch Marner dished it to Matthews, who tapped it smoothly into the back of the net.
Campbell finally got comfortable, shutting down a breakaway by Paul Byron. The Leafs tied it, with John Tavares finding the puck in a mad scrum and burying it. Then the Canadiens come right back and snatched momentum. Josh Anderson came in and snapped it off the post over the glove of Campbell. Allen played fantastic, stopping a slapshot and a big rebound from Matthews.
On a penalty kill, Allen played well to keep the Canadiens in charge. The Canadiens killed the penalty well, stopping the Maple Leafs in the neutral zone.
Tatar scored on an empty net goal, to ice the game 4-2. Allen kept making fantastic saves until the buzzer sounded.
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