The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens meet to open their seasons on Wednesday at Bell Centre. The teams split their four meetings last season, the last of which was a 3-2 victory for the Maple Leafs in April. Auston Matthews led Toronto with two goals. Erik Kallgren got the win, saving 24 of 26 shots (.923%).
FACING OFF
Toronto averaged 3.80 goals per game last season, second in the NHL. The visitors will be looking to take advantage of a Canadiens team that allowed 3.87 goals a game (32nd). Meanwhile, Montreal found the net 2.66 times a game on average, 27th in the league, and the Maple Leafs allowed opponents to score 3.07 goals per game (19th).The Maple Leafs were the league’s best power play team, scoring on 27.27% of their opportunities, while Montreal’s 75.55% penalty kill percentage ranked 27th. The Canadiens converted 13.71% of their power play chances, second-lowest in the NHL. Toronto’s PK% of 82.05 ranked No. 8.
LAST SEASON’S TOP PERFORMERS:
With 106 points last season, sixth-most in the NHL, Matthews was the top skater for the Maple Leafs. He led the league with 60 goals and added 46 assists. Jack Campbell, now with the Oilers, was 31-9-6 in the net for Toronto. He had a 2.64 GAA and a .914% save percentage. Nick Suzuki led the Canadiens in scoring a season ago with 61 points. He played 82 games, scoring 21 goals and providing 40 assists. Jake Allen (9-20-4) had the best goals against average for Montreal at 3.30. He had a save percentage of .905%. Sam Montembeault (8-18-6) played the most games in net for the Canadiens last season. He had a 3.77 GAA and a .891% save percentage.
SportsTips’ NHL Pick:
Toronto Maple Leafs (-250)
Want up to a $1K risk free bet for this pick?
Claim with 
today!
If you need more news, information and predictions, head over to our NHL hub page for all your hockey needs!
*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
