The Toronto Maple Leafs opened their 2021-22 regular season on a winning note, due mostly to a strong outing from goalie Jack Campbell in a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
Jonathan Drouin and Pierre Engvall exchanged goals in a first period and William Nylander scored the game-winner 66 seconds into the third to Toronto their first win of the season.
Campbell made 31 saves on the night, and was really sharp early in the game when Montreal dominated play and in the third with the Habs pressing for the tying goal. The key moment of the game was a 1:44 two-man advantage early in the third, but the Toronto PK and goaltending kept the Canadiens PP off the board.
“I thought obviously the first 10 minutes we were not good; it took us a while to get comfortable in the game but from then on I thought the effort was really strong.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “(Our) guys worked and competed; it was a tight game right till the end.”
Engvall had one of his stronger games as a Leaf after battling for a roster spot in the pre-season, with three shots on goal and some of the club’s best scoring chances, but nearly ended up being the goat late in the contest after Montreal pressured for the tying goal after the lanky Swede iced the puck shooting wide of the empty net.
"(Pierre) had really strong game. I thought he skated well and scored us a big goal on the power play." Keefe said. "Gave us was a lot of great shifts, had some tough assignments, playing against some of the top people and starting in our end a lot of the time. So I thought he was really good. So good that were giving him a pass at shooting at the empty net."
Youngster Rasmus Sandin registered an assist on Engvall’s power play goal, and it was a strong night for Leafs newcomers David Kampf and Michael Bunting.
Kampf played 17:34 in his first game in Blue and White on a checking line with Engvall and Ondrej Kase, went 54% on drawa and was a key part of killing the Habs 5-on-3 advantage in the third. Bunting had an assist on Engvall’s goal, made a couple nice passing plays to set up scoring chances and stirred it up some in the crease in front of Jake Allen.
The Leafs travelled after the game to Ottawa and will take on the Senators in their opener at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata on Thursday. Petr Mrazek will make the start in the second of back-to-back games and Anton Forsberg will go for the Sens with starter Matt Murray feeling ill.
Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk, who signed a seven-year contract extension on Thursday, is not expected to be available for tonight’s game or the rematch at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.
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