The Canadiens Looked Like a Team That's Played Together

What interested me most about the Montreal Canadiens’ 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs last night had very little to do with the final score. Montreal looked like a team that had been playing together for a while.

That might sound small in September, but it isn’t. The Canadiens were organized; they seemed to know where the next pass was going, and when Toronto pushed, Montreal generally looked comfortable dealing with it. Their game felt familiar. Players seemed to know where their teammates would be, which let Montreal play rather than think.

And then there was Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes.

The young Canadiens goaltender looked strong and, maybe more importantly, confident. No one saw a goalie fighting the puck or trying to make something happen. Dobes looked settled. Toronto generated some good opportunities, including that terrific William Nylander-Easton Cowan give-and-go that cut Montreal’s lead to 3-2, but the Canadiens didn’t panic.

That might be the bigger story here. Montreal has developed a nice little habit of finding its way back into games. The broadcast panel noted that the Canadiens had 26 comeback wins last season, and they added another against Toronto. Josh Anderson tied it after Nick Suzuki opened the scoring, and Zach Bolduc eventually put Montreal ahead. That kind of thing can become part of a team’s identity.

Montreal is clearly ahead of Toronto in its development.

Meanwhile, Toronto is still in the discovery phase. The Maple Leafs have so many new pieces that the early games will inevitably be about figuring out who fits with whom. Cowan jumping onto a line with Nylander and John Tavares was one of those experiments, and it produced an intriguing moment.

The Maple Leafs may look very good eventually. But right now they are learning each other. Montreal, on the other hand, looked like it already knew what it wanted to be. That's not a prediction about where either team is headed. It's simply one of those early-season observations that can get lost when everybody concentrates on the scoreboard.

The Canadiens looked connected. And sometimes, especially early in a season, that's worth noticing. The bottom line: Montreal looked like a team with an established identity, while Toronto looked like a team still figuring out its combinations.