Leafs’ rout of Habs turns into melee; Pacioretty says Grabovski bit him, Orr one-punches Bourque

Absolutely nothing went the Montreal Canadiens' way Saturday night versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. They put 37 shots on James Reimer. None went in. They surrendered 6 goals, the first time in 12 years they've lost by such a margin to Toronto, and among those goals were tallies by the snakebitten Dion Phaneuf, the previously goalless Leo Komarov, and Korbinian Holzer, with an assist from Colton Orr.

Yes, the Leafs' fourth line got a goal. Rarely do they factor much into hockey games (despite Don Cherry's bizarre assertion that Orr and McClaren were responsible for the Leafs' turnaround of late), but they were a big part of this one, especially in the final period.

As you might imagine in an embarrassing, nationally televised rout, the Canadiens did their best to fight back, leading to a third period full of shenanigans and fisticuffs. 64 minutes in penalties were handed out. But this part of the game didn't go well for Montreal either.

The moment that most will be talking about: Max Pacioretty's assertion that Mikhail Grabovski bit him during a pileup that took place at the 11:30 mark. Did he? You decide:

And another look from the side:

If you're having trouble seeing it, look for the moment where Grabovski grabs Pacioretty's arm, closes his eyes, and appears to sink his teeth into it into the limb like an ear of corn. It's pretty tough to miss.

(UPDATE: Grabovski will have a hearing with the NHL on Sunday afternoon.)

But while I can't believe I'm saying this, it's also going to be pretty tough to discipline. The stanchion does a good job of obscuring it the latter clip, and in the former clip, the alleged bite to the inside of Pacioretty's forearm is obscured by the outside of Pacioretty's forearm.

If the Alex Burrows incident taught us anything, it's that even when teeth are visible, sometimes the league will still call it inconclusive. And nothing happened with Chris Stewart's allegation that Derek Dorsett bit him last week.

But the silliness didn't end there.

Less than five minutes later, Colton Orr found himself on the ice at the same time as Tomas Plekanec, and he took a run as the Canadiens' centre. Lucky for Plekanec, he dodged Orr's flying, open-ice hit -- that looked to be led by a dangerous knee -- at the last possible second.

Immediately, the Canadiens on the ice responded, as you would after someone takes a reckless, knee-out run at one of your best players. Unfortunately -- and I remind you that the Orr line was enjoying a late shift -- the Canadiens on the ice were Plekanec, Brian Gionta, Rene Bourque, and Josh Gorges. This probably won't surprise you since he had no qualms about going after Plekanec, but Orr and Frazer McClaren were all too happy to take advantage of the mismatch:

A quick recap of what you just saw: as Orr beats up on Brian Gionta, Rene Bourque tries to come to the rescue. Orr puts him on his backside with one punch. Here's a better look at that:

And here's a gif of it, courtesy @totruculent.

Meanwhile, Frazer Mclaren fights Josh Gorges while laughing at him. Credit to Gorges though. He managed to punch Mclaren's helmet off.

That's about all that went right for the Canadiens, who were badly beaten, beaten up, and bitten on this night.