The Maple Leafs averted a repeat of their third period collapse in Boston last May, as they held on for a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in the season opener at the Bell Centre.
James van Riemsdyk, Dion Phaneuf, Tyler Bozak and Mason Raymond scored for Toronto, while Lars Eller scored twice and Brendan Gallagher tallied for Les Habitants.
James Reimer made 34 saves for his first victory of the season and Montreal’s Carey Price made the same number of stops in the loss.
The game was unusually wide open and feisty, as the shots on goal were 38-37 in favor of Toronto and the two teams combined for 100 penalty minutes.
The Leafs took the early lead as van Riemsdyk scored on a 5-on-3 power play just over eight minutes into the first period, but the hometown Habs took advantage of some lax defensive play by Toronto and replied with goals by Eller and Gallagher to lead after the first.
Toronto responded in the middle frame, as Phaneuf snapped a wrist shot high over Price’s glove hand to tie the game and Bozak stole the puck off from Habs defenseman Andrei Markov while shorthanded and scored on a breakaway to give the Leafs a lead they would never relinquish.
The Blue and White appeared to have control of the game early in the third, as Raymond first goal as a Leaf extended the lead to 4-2, but a miscue by Jake Gardiner at the Montreal blueline allowed Eller a shorthanded goal that narrowed the lead to one goal, but Toronto was able to hold on for the victory, their fourth straight season opening victory over their Atlantic Division rival.
The ugliest moment of the game happened early in the third period, as a scrum in front of Carey Price led to fights between Carter Ashton and Jarred Tinordi and the second fight between heavyweights Colton Orr and George Parros.
Both players were throwing wild punches and grabbing each other’s jerseys and as Orr fell to the ice, his hold on Parros drove the Montreal enforcer face first to the ice and knocked him unconscious. Parros was taken off the ice on a stretcher and was taken by ambulance to a Montreal hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.
The Leafs play the Flyers on Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Jonathan Bernier is expected to get the start in goal.
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As if the excitement of starting the 2013-14 regular season was not enough, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced Tuesday afternoon that they have signed winger Phil Kessel to an eight-year contract extension, worth $64 Million.
The deal was the maximum allowed under the new collective bargaining agreement and will keep the sniper who turns 26 on Wednesday in Toronto until the end of 2021-22 season.
“Late last week, Phil and I got together…….and he brought up to me how important it was to stay(in Toronto). GM Dave Nonis said of the duration of the contract negotiations. “I wanted to hear from him and I wanted him to tell me that he wanted to be a Toronto Maple Leaf and once he did, we worked quickly and were able to reach an agreement.”
The deal will pay Kessel $10 Million for 2014-15 and 2015-16, $9 Million for 2016-17 and 2017-18, $7 Million for 2018-19 and 2019-20 and $6 Million for 2020-21 and 2021-22.
In spite of Kessel’s shortcomings defensively, it has to be recognized that in seven NHL seasons he has scored 30 goals or more on four occasions and has finished in the top 10 of NHL scoring two seasons in a row, which would have been nearly impossible to replace in free agency.
While skeptics will say that making Kessel the highest paid player in Maple Leafs history is a significant overpayment, but the Leafs recognize that they had their backs against the wall with the prospect of the sniper becoming an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and stating that he did not want to negotiate a new deal once the season started.
“I’ve always wanted to be here. “ Kessel said about Toronto at a press conference at the Bell Centre. “It’s a place I wanted to play, I wanted to finish my career here.”
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