The Toronto Maple Leafs scored four goals in 5:33 to end the night of Sam Montembeault and to defeat the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 2 vs Toronto Maple Leafs 4 | FINAL
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
11 Brendan Gallagher - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
70 Tanner Pearson - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
55 Michael Pezzetta - 36 Colin White - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
54 Jordan Harris - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
47 Jayden Struble - 52 Justin Barron
Goaltenders
Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Jesse Ylonen
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Joshua Roy (hand), Arber Xhekaj (upper body), Kaiden Guhle (upper body)
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The Canadiens were hosting their long-time rival for the final Saturday night game at the Bell Centre this season. The Maple Leafs had won the three previous meetings between these two teams this year.
It was an evenly played period through the first twenty minutes.
The second frame, like on Thursday night against the Lightning, is where the Canadiens became unglued. Just over two minutes into the period, Max Domi deflected a point shot past Sam Montembeault. 17 later, Auston Matthews scored his 64th goal of the season.
Five minutes later, the Leafs were once again scoring in pairs. Montembeault lost a rebound to Matthews Knies for Toronto's third goal. And 34 seconds later, Bobby McMann gave the visitors a 4-0 lead.
That was the end of the night for Montembeault who gave up four goals on only 12 shots. Cayden Primeau entered the game in relief. Primeau stopped all 18 shots he faced in the game.
The Canadiens came to life midway through the second period with Nick Suzuki scoring his 33rd goal on the power play. With just over a minute left in the frame, Cole Caufield scored the final goal of the game.
The Montreal comeback fizzled in the third period.
With the win, the Maple Leafs swept the four-game season series with the Canadiens.
Game Statistics
Canadiens (29-35-12)
Shots: 27
Face-off %: 50.9
Power play: 1/1
Penalty minutes: 9
Hits: 35
Blocks: 15
Maple Leafs (44-23-9)
Shots: 30
Face-off %: 49.1
Power play: 0/1
Penalty minutes: 9
Hits: 23
Blocks: 21
Scoring Summary
Canadiens Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Suzuki (33)-PPG, Caufield (23)
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --
Maple Leafs Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Domi (9), Matthews (64), Knies (14), McMann (15)
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --
Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (L) 15-15-7, Primeau
TOR: Samsonov (W) 22-6-7
Canadiens Players of the Game
Cayden Primeau - Primeau took over after a disastrous start from Sam Montembeault. Primeau steadied the ship and stopped all 18 shots he faced.
Nick Suzuki - Suzuki scored once on six shots on goal and added an assist.
Video Highlights
Post-game Quotes
Martin St. Louis
"We need to better manage the puck in our end of the ice and simplify our game a little."
"Sam (Montembeault) didn’t have it tonight."
Nick Suzuki
“We're probably not as far away from them as people think. There were times during this game and others where we controlled the game. When we impose our style, we can be successful against any team. We can't do it consistently (for the entire game.)"
Up Next
The Canadiens head to New York City for a Sunday night matchup against the Rangers.
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