The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, a battle of two clubs on opposite poles of the trend spectrum.
The Habs are a team on the rise, while the Leafs are slowly realizing that their previous expectations were merely symptoms of delusions of sporting grandeur.
With this in mind, it was no surprise that the Canadiens defeated the Leafs, although the 3–1 score was a little favorable to the road team, as they lost to Montreal 33–18.
Let's look at the highlights!
The future is now, old man
The Canadiens showed great pace to start the game, creating several high-danger scoring chances and frequent turnovers in the offensive zone.
This solid play ultimately culminated in rookie Oliver Kapanen's 20th goal of the year, earning him a cool $212,500 to reach the goal-scoring bonus in his contract.
Oliver Kapanen opened the scoring with his 20th goal of the year.
A beauty, with Demidov and Newhook providing excellent assistance.
1-0 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/cItuvSvIVs
- Montreal Hockey Now (@MTLhockeynow) 10 March 2026
tertiary scoring
Montreal once again took advantage of their great start as Philippe Danault scored his fifth goal of the year, a nice individual effort that featured quick hands from the oldest player in the lineup.
It should be noted that shots in the first period were 18–5 in favor of the Canadiens, a season-high for the home team. The Canadiens were so dominant that the Leafs enjoyed their second offensive-zone start of the game just minutes into the second frame.
Philippe Danault has fun and doubles the Canadian's lead! 🚨🔵⚪🔴 pic.twitter.com/1iiU68de09
- TVA Sports (@TVASports) 10 March 2026
stem the tide
Toronto clearly lacked enthusiasm to start the game, but they increased their effort level significantly midway through the second period, as evidenced by the game when William Nylander limited Montreal's lead to just one goal.
Cowan and Nylander connect to cut Habs lead in half pic.twitter.com/2cUZlI0DdH
- Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) 11 March 2026
Partiality? We don't need no smelly prejudice
With all due respect to the good folks at Sportsnet, their coverage of Tuesday's game was completely tilted toward the Leafs.
Keep in mind that the Canadiens beat Toronto by a wide margin and are miles ahead of the Leafs in the standings. Toronto's season is essentially meaningless, with the playoffs out of reach, while Montreal is engaged in an extremely competitive playoff race. Sportsnet spent more time discussing Benoit-Olivier Groulx's handful of changes than anything remotely related to the Habs.
Of course, we have to allow for some disappointing catering at the Toronto market, but based on the comments, you'd assume Toronto won the game handily.
Rather, it was the Canadiens who emerged with a solid 3–1 victory, a sign of things to come between the respective franchises.
The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Wednesday facing the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm ET.
All Montreal Canadiens stats are 5v5, via Natural Stat Trick, unless otherwise noted.
