Canadiens Caught Up By Maple Leafs

The Montreal Canadiens were ready to play tonight and as soon as they hit the Bell Centre ice they started dominating the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was only five minutes old when Kirby Dach was left all alone in the slot and was able to one-time the Habs into the lead.

13 minutes later, on the power play, Patrik Laine scored with yet another howitzer from his office. With a primary assist on the play, Lane Hutson tied his own record for the longest point streak for a rookie defenseman with the Canadiens with seven games.

Related: Hutson Is Chasing History

Just nine seconds later, Josh Anderson cut through the Maple Leafs' defense like a hot knife through butter and made it 3-0. After 10 minutes, the Canadiens had 13 shots to Toronto's eight and were playing a disciplined game. Arber Xhekaj even refused Ryan Reaves' invitation to dance, pointing at the scoreboard and waiving him out of there.

While Juraj Slafkovsky was kept off the scoreboard, he had a solid first frame, using that big frame of his to knock pucks loose and create scoring opportunities. When you see a six-foot-three and 225 pounds winger coming at you like a wrecking ball, it's possible that you hurry your play to brace for impact. Unfortunately for the Canadiens though, a hockey game lasts 60 minutes and not 20...in a buzzing Bell Centre, Toronto wasn't going to throw in the towel.

The Maple Leafs clawed their way back into the match in the middle frame, testing Samuel Montembeault with 14 shots and converting twice. Their first goal came on an odd-man rush off a post shot by Christian Dvorak while their second one was a power play marker on a a late Hutson penalty.

Related: Top Goaltender Praises Canadiens

If Reaves tried to invite Xhekaj to rumble in the first frame, he wasn't expecting to be rocked as he was by the youngster in the second. Watching the puck, the veteran enforcer had no idea Montreal's big man had him in his sight and looked like a rag doll on impact. Still, at the end of 40 minutes, the Canadiens had the narrowest of leads at 3-2. Although he hadn't found the back of the net in the first two frames, Cole Caufield had six shots already and looked hungry for a goal.

The best was yet to come for the Maple Leafs though, they tied-up the game less than a minute into the third and added another three goals, to take the game by a score of 7-3. William Nylander's quick marker at the start of the third frame seemed to be the catalyst behind the Leafs storming to victory.

In the defeat, Caufield had 10 shots on net and must have found his evening very frustrating, just like Hutson who finished the night with a minus-five rating. Montembeault surrendered six goals on 33 shots tonight for a .818 save percentage and didn't look like the netminder we've seen since the Christmas break.

While the Canadiens have played very well of late, Toronto remains one of the league's top team, currently sitting in sixth place. St-Louis has said it often enough this season, his team is learning how to win and the Leafs are, at least in the regular season, at a much later stage in that journey than the Canadiens.

Montreal won't have time to dwell on tonight's events thankfully as it hosts the New York Rangers tomorrow night at the Bell Centre.

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