Price leads Canadiens past Maple Leafs

“I’m a school teacher by trade and I believe a big part of the program is guys have to understand things fast”, Babcock said. Like so many times previous year, he kept the Canadiens in the game and gave them a chance to win. The Marlies top line of Brown-Nylander-Kapanen look poised to be one of the deadliest lines in the AHL this year, and that is very exciting for the future of the Leafs. “You know exactly what to do”. When you’re as good as he is, he’s going to make those saves. Equally impressive was his showing in the faceoff circle, winning seven of his 10 draws. I thought we won a lot of battles. The 32 year old expects to get “a lot of ice time” this season to turn a page on his career.

Galchenyuk said he knows there are going to be ups and downs and said his goal and to stay confident and consistent and not worry when he has the inevitable bad game. The Maple Leafs claimed the Toronto native off waivers from the Canucks this morning. After video review, the Maple Leafs coach won the challenge thereby overturning the goal. Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves, flubbing Pacioretty’s first goal early in the first.

The rules of the coach’s challenge are pretty simple as it can only be used in two instances: an offside play that led to a goal or goalie interference on a goal.

Toronto Maple Leafs left wing James van Riemsdyk (21) is checked by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin (74) as he carries the puck at Air Canada Centre.

Following their season opening loss against Montreal, the Leafs were back at practice, working on drills and trying to ideal the style of play being taught by head coach Mike Babcock.

If past year taught Habs fans anything it’s that Carey Price has finally arrived in his prime and for the foreseeable future at least he’s capable of bailing out his teammates.

Quick sidebar on challenging calls: Therrien was asked after the game if he was reticent about using his timeout 2:36 into the third period, in a 1-1 game that could’ve easily been decided on a blown call later on.

Pacioretty scored the first goal of the season just 3:09 after the opening drop. The Maple Leafs’ odds to win the Stanley Cup this year are -8000, the lowest of any Canadian team. I haven’t seen the advanced stats yet, but Phaneuf was a visible liability tonight. In fact, there won’t be a single rookie lacing up their skates for this season opener game against the Habs.

“He didn’t surprise me”, said defenceman P.K. Subban.

Bernier just wasn’t as locked in as Price. “Brew yelled in Jim Hiller’s ear, and Jim Hiller said we’re challenging”. “It’s as good as it gets”. I thought there was a spell in the first and second where we dipped for about five or six minutes and they took it to us, but other than that, I felt we had much more zone time than them in the offensive zone. Who did you feel made a positive impact on the game? “To get to the rink today and go through the same routine, it was definitely refreshing”.

The Maple Leafs meanwhile are trending in the opposite direction as they have made a ton of personnel moves off the ice in hopes of getting the franchise back on the right track after two seasons worth of massive underachieving.

“They played a solid game; they were strong on the puck”, said Price, who saw the coach’s system up close when he helped a Babcock-coached Team Canada win the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.