As noted last night, the Red Wings’ home-opener opponent, the Montreal Canadiens, lost a 5-2 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday evening, but the game was tied at 2-2 until 9:03 of the 3rd period, when Morgan Rielly took advantage of a broken stick at the Habs’ blueline to streak in and score the gamer on Samuel Montembeault…
And the Canadiens gave up 2 empty-net goals as well, which means that the game was effectively a 3-2 Maple Leafs win.
Jakub Dobes will start tonight’s game (7 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/TSN2/RDS/97.1 FM) against John Gibson in goal, and the Canadiens won’t hold a morning skate today at Little Caesars Arena, so their lineup may or may not change from last night’s formation.
Field Level Media posted a short Habs-Leafs recap…
The Canadiens began their season on Wednesday with a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate.
The Maple Leafs broke a 2-2 tie midway through the third period and scored a pair of empty-net goals to secure the win.
Montreal had a 31-27 advantage in shots on goal.
“I felt we spent a lot of time in the offensive zone tonight,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I think we could have had more of a shooting mentality a little more, but we have been so focused on the defensive side of things throughout camp. We have started diving in on the offensive side of things, but I think we have to have more of a shooting mentality. But overall I liked what I saw. We had good intentions.”
Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson lost his stick during the sequence that led to Toronto’s go-ahead goal.
“We had enough chances,” Hutson said. “It would have been nice to execute on a couple of chances and maybe get more shots on (goal). The guys played good and I’ve definitely got to be better.”
The Canadiens posted “things to know” ahead of tonight’s game…
TEAM COMPARISONS
Despite a solid effort, the Canadiens dropped a 5-2 decision against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. Oliver Kapanen scored his first NHL goal, while Zachary Bolduc netted his first as a Hab in the loss. Samuel Montembeault stopped 22 shots. Martin St-Louis’ men will continue their season-opening road trip against two more Original Six teams in Detroit tonight and Chicago on Saturday, before playing in front of their own fans on October 14 against the Seattle Kraken.
Heading into the 2025-26 campaign with a 5-3 preseason record, Detroit will open its centennial season with a 23-man roster featuring a few new faces and a healthy dose of youthful energy. While rookies Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Emmitt Finnie, and Axel Sandin-Pellikka are likely to make their NHL debuts tonight, veteran netminder John Gibson – acquired in the offseason – has been confirmed as the starter against the Canadiens.
Todd McLellan’s squad was in the thick of the Wild Card race in the Eastern Conference last season, finishing five points behind Montreal. With a mix of seasoned veterans, including Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane and captain Dylan Larkin, and talented young players in Marco Kasper, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, the Red Wings should be even more competitive this season.
LINEUP NEWS
Given that it is the second game of a back-to-back, the Canadiens will not hold a morning skate. Subscribe to or follow the team on YouTube, Facebook and X (@CanadiensMTL) to catch St-Louis’ press conference and player media availabilities at around 11:45 a.m., and keep an eye on the Canadiens social accounts for any potential lineup news. For the full official lineup, check back on the team’s social accounts closer to puck drop.
And again, here are tonight’s game notes:
