MONTREAL (AP) — The Toronto Maple Leafs scored seven unanswered goals to overcome a three-goal first-period deficit for a 7-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Bobby McMann, Nicholas Robertson, William Nylander, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz, Auston Matthews and David Kampf found the back of the net for Toronto. Joseph Woll made 32 saves.
Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine, and Josh Anderson scored forst-period goals for Montreal. Sam Montembeault finished with 27 saves.
Montreal struck first on Dach's goal at 5:08. Patrik Laine, on the power play, and Josh Anderson scored just nine seconds apart, giving Montreal a 3-0 lead.
Toronto pulled within 3-2 after two periods on goals from McMann and Robertson. Nylander scored 24 seconds into the third period on a breakaway to make it 3-all.
Ekman-Larsson scored a power-play goal at 4:31, Matthews scored a short-handed goal at 7:58, Lorentz scored at 14:45, and Kampf added a short-handed empty-netter at 18:26.
Takeaways
Canadiens: Missed opportunities again made Montreal’s life more difficult than it needed to be. Shots ringing off the post, missing open chances, and excellent saves from Woll prevented them from putting the game away in the second period.
Maple Leafs: Despite an abysmal first period, Toronto regrouped and completed their comeback in the blink of an eye, scoring five before Montreal had the chance to regroup.
Key moment
Halfway through the second period, Montreal’s Christian Dvorak sent a shot that rang off the right post and promptly turned into a two-on-one rush that ended with McMann scoring eight seconds later.
Up next
Maple Leafs: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
Canadiens: Host the New York Rangers on Sunday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
The Associated Press
