Montreal Canadiens defeat Toronto Maple Leafs in OT 3-2

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Montreal Canadiens defeat Toronto Maple Leafs in OT 3-2. Here is the game summary and highlights from the game played on Saturday, February 25, 2017

 

1

2

3

OT

FINAL

MONTREAL

0

2

0

1

3

TORONTO

1

0

1

0

2

 

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY


ON THE SCORESHEET

Auston Matthews put the Maple Leafs on the board at 10:54 of the first period and later added his second goal of the night at 1:19 of the third period. Matthews is the third Maple Leaf in history to register 30 goals in their rookie season (Wendel Clark, Daniel Marois).

Jake Gardiner registered his 23rd assist and 32nd point of the season on Matthews’ first period goal. With the assist, Gardiner established a new single-season career-high for points (32).

James van Riemsdyk also picked up an assist on Matthews’ first period goal. He has three assists in his last four games.

Zach Hyman registered the primary assist on Matthews’ third period goal. Hyman has eight goals and 16 assists this season.

William Nylander had the secondary assist on Matthews’ third period goal. Nylander has 18 points (7 goals, 11 assists) in 21 games versus Atlantic Division opposition this season.

Frederik Andersen stopped 25 shots in the overtime loss.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs outshot the Canadiens by a 34-28 margin in all situations. Toronto had a 22-21 lead in shots at 5-on-5.

Montreal had a 60-57 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 48-41 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

Auston Matthews led the Maple Leafs with seven shots and eight shot attempts.

HOME AGAIN

The Maple Leafs are 15-10-6 at home this season.

Toronto’s all-time record is 293-341-88-14 in 736 games against the Canadiens and 186-129-45-9 in games in Toronto. 

Toronto is 19-12-7 against the Eastern Conference this season and 12-6-3 against the Atlantic Division.

Tonight’s attendance was 19,843.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

Faceoff Wins

8 (Gauthier)

Faceoff Win Percentage

62% (Gauthier)

Hits

6 (Komarov)

Blocked Shots

3 (Gardiner)

Takeaways

2 (Matthews)

TOI

23:42 (Gardiner)

Power Play TOI

2:33 (Komarov, Matthews)

Shorthanded TOI

4:49 (Hyman)

Shifts

31 (Gardiner)

5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage

61.5% (Gauthier – 8 for, 5 against)

OF NOTE…

The Maple Leafs were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill tonight and 0-for-2 on the power play. Toronto is 12-10-5 when not scoring a power play goal this season and 7-9-7 when allowing a power play goal.

Toronto is 23-5-7 when scoring first.

The Maple Leafs are now 18-1-7 when leading after a period and 3-16-2 when trailing after two periods.

Toronto has a 10-11-7 record when outshooting their opponent.

UPCOMING GAMES:

Tuesday, Feb. 28 at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

Thursday, March 2 at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

Friday, March 3 at Anaheim Ducks, 10:00 p.m. (TSN 4, FAN 590)

Tuesday, March 7 vs. Detroit Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. (TSN 4, TSN 1050)

Thursday, March 9 vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s game:

I thought we played real good tonight, I thought Price made some real good saves on the one power play. I thought our goalie was good too. I thought we put a lot of pressure on Montreal at times. A tough mistake there at the end but those are parts of life. I thought our guys battled hard, I thought they did a good job. [Ben Smith], we weren’t expecting him to play, but he did a decent job. All in all, it would have been really nice to get the extra point, especially at home, but we didn’t.

On what he expects on the upcoming road trip:

I expect to win. We should have [Bozak] back, he just had a cut in his hand and got an infection. That should be cleaned up – that just happened – that should be cleaned up and he should be [ready], we were hoping on him tonight. So, that shouldn’t be an issue. You’ve got to give our trainers credit, both Mitch [Marner] and I were bribing them today but they held strong. We were doing everything we could but I think they’re going to let him out of jail here soon so that would be good for us. We’ve just got to play right and play hard.

On the team’s depth:

I think we have good depth in lots of spots, not as much at centre ice.

On if he thought Matthews could score 30 goals this season:

I didn’t think like that, I just thought let’s make him better each and every day. I knew he was an elite player. I never spent any time thinking about what his stats would be, just that he would help us win. That’s what I like about him – he helps you win because he plays right. He’s getting better every day and he’s going to be our number one centre here – if he’s not already – in no time. He’ll be a guy who’s driving our franchise. I think that’s important. He’s got a work ethic and a mental toughness that’s going to be a good example for everyone that becomes a Leaf.

On what he thinks when he sees Matthews on a breakaway in overtime:

Shoot it in the net. You just want to win the game, obviously it was a good opportunity for us. I think he had one in Winnipeg [in overtime], he would have had two and we ended up losing that game too. He’s got to finish but he made a great shot, I think it hit [Price] in the shaft if I’m not mistaken. Good on him.

On equaling last season’s point total in February as a small step in the right direction:

I wouldn’t say it’s a small step, I’d say it’s a huge step, but the big step is we’re getting to playing real hockey games that matter. Our crowd is excited and their fans are excited and it’s a hockey game at a level that we couldn’t play last year. We’ve just got to keep getting better. Obviously if we keep getting better, we have a chance to get in. We just want to get into the playoffs. We’ve got to scratch and claw our way in.

On not beating Montreal during his time in Toronto:

Did I want to win tonight? Yes. Are we going to beat Montreal? Yes.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (25 SAVES)

On tonight’s game:

I think we played well, we had some good chances to score. We came back and played well in the third. Just a couple of mistakes that cost us I guess.

On his play on the overtime winner:

I thought I had a better play than I had. I thought it was going to get to me quicker than it did. He was on it first.

On his performance tonight:

You obviously want to win the games but I’m starting to feel good. I thought we played to win too. We generated a lot of chances and didn’t give up that much. We did pretty well.

JAKE GARDINER (1 ASSIST)

On tonight’s game:

A few mistakes on our part and it kind of cost us. Obviously Price is a heck of a goalie, we had a lot of good chances and he made some big saves. That being said, I thought we played a decent game and Freddy [Andersen] played great for us again.

On not beating Montreal this season:

Obviously I think for us and the fans it’s a team we want to beat pretty badly usually. It’s not something we’re proud of, that’s for sure.

On playing with Marchenko:

He’s a really smart player and very poised with the puck. He makes great passes and he’s been good so far.

ZACH HYMAN (1 ASSIST)

On what the difference was tonight:

Turnovers and they capitalized on those turnovers. In games like this you win by just a little bit and we have to be better.

On his assist on Matthews’ second goal:

We work on that a lot, it’s just a cycle play down low and then he goes to the net and I kind of just throw it to try to find him at the net. It was a good tip by him to beat Price.

On getting the puck to Matthews:

He shoots it from everywhere, he can score from two feet in or 20 feet out. He’s a great player and he’s fun to play with.

On the tight games between Toronto and Montreal this season:

Those games are games you want to play in, they’re the fun games and the rivalry games and they’re always going to be close. We have to be better and it’s a tough loss for us.

On tonight’s atmosphere:

It’s amazing. Those are the games you dream about when you’re a kid is playing in those games. The fans were great and it was a fun game to play in. Unfortunately we didn’t get the outcome we wanted.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (2 GOALS)

On his overtime breakaway opportunity:

I saw the open corner and he just got a stick on it. It’s a tough bounce.

On if he was affected by a slash on his overtime breakaway:

No, I mean, I saw the opening, I shot it there and he just got a knob on it.

On takeaways from tonight’s game:

We move forward. This was obviously a big game, two pretty big rivals. I thought we played a pretty outstanding game. We didn’t give them anything for free and when they did get their opportunities it was off of turnovers or plays that were our fault. For the most part I thought we played a pretty solid game. Obviously Carey [Price] is the best goalie in the league so he came up pretty big for them. We had a lot of opportunities, especially on that power play. We just kept plugging away and just couldn’t get it done.

On facing Carey Price:

He’s just always in good position, you never really see him panic or anything. He moves well, he’s just – he guesses really well or reads the play really well. He’s obviously a tough guy to get the puck by. With us, our game plan was pretty simple – just get guys in front of him. We’re not going to score pretty goals, we’ve got to get guys to the net and that’s what we did tonight.

On frustration due to not beating Montreal:

Yeah, of course. It’s obviously a pretty frustrating loss for us. I thought we did everything we could to win the game and we just came up short. It’s not the best feeling.

On the high risk, high reward style in overtime:

It’s 3-on-3 so there’s a lot of space on there. You lose your guy and it’s an odd-man rush for the other team or vice versa. It’s always pretty exciting to play in, obviously you see it go back and forth like it did today. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way.

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