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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The losing streak is over. The Maple Leafs finally beat the Montreal Canadiens. 

Before Saturday's meeting in Montreal, the Leafs hadn’t won at the Bell Centre since Oct. 1, 2013. They hadn’t beat the Canadiens at all since Jan. 18, 2014. In 14 straight meetings, the Leafs had been losers. But on Saturday night, Auston Matthews’ overtime winner ended the skid and put the Leafs over the Canadiens 4-3. 

Toronto moves to 4-1 on the season while Montreal falls to 1-4. 

Even though Toronto was outplayed for much of the second half on Saturday, Matthews came to the Leafs’ rescue again with his second overtime winner in three games. It was the 20-year old’s second goal of the night; his first came in the first period off a spectacular end-to-end individual effort capped with a superb curl and drag shot past Price. 

Matthews has five points in five games this season and leads the Leafs in goals and points (8). The second-year player also has 27 goals on the road now in his young career, most by any player since he came into the league last October. 

Carey Price had been the difference for Montreal against Toronto these past three years. In 11 prior starts, he’d posted 1.88 goals-against and .944 save percentage, with seven of those 11 wins in one-goal games. Saturday’s game also came down to goaltending, but this time it was Frederik Andersen getting the better of Price. 

Like last season, Andersen has struggled at times out of the gate, posting an .839 save percentage in his previous three starts. He gave up three goals in the first half of Saturday’s game, but when Toronto needed it most, Andersen came up big. 

Tied 3-3 going into the third period, the Leafs were almost entirely dominated by the Canadiens, especially in the second half. By the midway point of the third the Leafs had only one shot on goal to Montreal’s seven. But Andersen was was there to stave off Montreal’s relentless attack when the Leafs had no answer for them anywhere else and got them to overtime. He finished with a .912 save percentage

On the other side, Price was fighting the puck all night, giving up 16 goals on 22 shots for an .818 save percentage. The usually unflappable netminder looked rattled by the Leafs' speed down low and never seemed to establish a good rhythm. Saturday was an off night for Toronto in terms of shots on goal as it was - their prior season-low was 31 against Winnipeg. But shot attempts were fairly even throughout the game, showing how Montreal did a good job clogging up shooting lanes in front of Price. 

The 34 shots against by the Leafs does continue a season-long pattern of giving up 30 or more shots on goal per game, which they have in four of their first five. They’ve also allowed at least three goals-against in four of their five games. 

Toronto is back in action Tuesday at Washington to face the Capitals for the first time since they eliminated them from the playoffs last April.

Takeaways

Kill or be Killed

The Leafs penalty kill was one of their biggest strengths last season but the unit hasn’t been as much of a bright spot this season, and had another inconsistent night on Saturday, when only two minor penalties assessed against them (the lowest total of any game this season). They entered the game 17th in the league, working at 81.8 per cent, and went one for two against Montreal. Alex Galchenuyk’s power play goal was a perfect shot but he was able to enter the zone cleanly when the Leafs got their signals crossed at the blue line. Mistakes like that are ones Toronto can’t afford when they’ve already shown a tendency to struggle keeping pucks out of the net as it is. On the power play, Toronto never got much going against Montreal. They were 0-for-2 by the end of the night, the first time this season the Leafs have been entirely shut down on the man advantage. 

Plan of Attack

On Friday, Nazem Kadri said the Leafs were focused on the neutral zone as an area to clean up after Wednesday’s loss. He said Toronto wanted to do a better job clogging up the middle and give their defensemen more time to make plays. The Leafs were pretty successful in that regard, especially in the second period when neither team was able to get much offensive zone time but Toronto was noticeably more diligent and aware in the middle of the ice to keep the Canadiens from blowing by them. They also did a better job of back checking, led by Zach Hyman, to keep Montreal off its game. All in all, the Leafs attention to detail and their execution got better as the game went on through the beginning of the third period, and was apparent in how the Canadiens scoring chances diminished to that point. 

Still Got It

Patrick Marleau scored his third goal of the season in Montreal, jamming a puck past five Canadiens in front of Price. With that score, the 38-year-old Marleau became the oldest Leaf to score against the Habs since Norm Ullman (39) scored on Jan. 18, 1975. Saturday’s win also marked the 600th career victory for head coach Mike Babcock.