Canadiens hold off Maple Leafs in opener to spoil McKenna debut | NHL.com

It was the season opener for each team. 

“We focused on a lot of things in camp, paying attention to detail,” Anderson said. “Obviously, we had a little bit of a slow start (tonight), but we got some momentum on our hands and started to roll from there. I liked our compete level, and obviously Jakub Dobes made some huge saves for us tonight.”

Zachary Bolduc scored, and Dobes made 26 saves for the Canadiens. 

“I saw a group just trying to find a way to win a game,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We don’t play until Saturday (at the Pittsburgh Penguins). We’re going to get together and spend some quality time and team bonding. To go get a win in the first game, I’m really happy. 

“Do we have things to address and correct? I’m sure we do and it’s nice to be able to do that after a win. The tone of positivity can stay around and (we can) still do some teaching.”

William Nylander scored twice, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in his debut for the Maple Leafs, who were playing their first game under coach Jim Hiller.

“I thought we played pretty well to be honest with you,” Hiller said. “Most of the chances they got, we gave them. We turned the puck over in the defensive zone, so that was really our Achillies’ heel. Outside of that, I thought we played pretty well.”

Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, was minus-2 with one shot on goal in 15:19 of ice time in his NHL debut. 

“It was a lot of fun,” McKenna said. “Obviously you want to get the win but to get that first one under my belt, it feels good.

“(My game was) not great. I had a couple turnovers. I’m glad we are playing again (on Wednesday against the New York Islanders),” McKenna said. “Montreal is a really good team, they don’t give you much time and space.”

Bolduc put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 4:52 of the second period. Mike Matheson drove to the net and put the puck into the slot, where Bolduc shot past Bobrovsky’s glove.

The goal came after Dobes kept the game tied at 17 seconds of the second period, making a glove save on a one-timer from Kirill Marchenko from the left face-off dot.