Sam Montembeault made 48 saves, and Cole Caufield scored during a power play in the first period, helping the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 on Wednesday night in both teams’ season opener.
Montembeault set an NHL record for the most saves in a season-opening shutout.
“Going into the Bell Centre, first game of the season, you want to do well,” Montembeault said. “Big crowd and everybody was excited for this game — but I just turned those nerves into energy. And it went well.”
Caufield scored at 7:48 of the first period, finishing a quick passing play with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach. The Canadiens went 1 for 5 on the power play after failing to score in 30 attempts during the preseason.
Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves for Toronto since expected starter Joseph Woll was not in the lineup. Coach Craig Berube mentioned that Woll had “lower-body tightness.”
“You almost get 50 shots on net and you don’t get a goal — their goalie played well,” Berube said after his first regular-season game as Toronto’s coach.
