<p>The headline is satire if you didn&#8217;t figure that out. But if you&#8217;re a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I&#8217;d be hard-pressed to blame you for feeling like that.</p>
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<p>The Maple Leafs opened their season in the worst way imaginable, getting shut out by their arguable biggest rivals in the Montreal Canadiens, on the road. Carey Price-er, I mean Samuel Montembault, had 47 saves in the shutout for the Habs.</p>
<p>After some fireworks erupted in the Maple Leafs&#8217; last preseason game against the Canadiens that saw Patrik Laine leave with an injury (albeit with significantly different rosters), you had to predict that the Habs would come out with a chip on their shoulder. Factor in that they&#8217;re on home ice and generally always show up for games against Toronto, and you could probably predict that the Leafs would be in tough to come away with a clean victory.</p>
<p>On the bright side? The penalty kill looked good. Sure, the Habs opened the scoring on their second power play of the game, but the Leafs killed off four of their five penalties, including a 5-on-3. On the negative side of things, the power play looked exactly how it did where they left off in the playoffs against Boston — lost. They went 0-for-4 on the power play, and although it looked slightly less predictable compared to how it normally does, they were held to the perimeter in an all-too-familiar story of struggling to get anything going with the advantage.</p>
<p>On the bright side, Anthony Stolarz looked calm in net compared to some of the floppier goalies we&#8217;ve seen in the crease for this team, and with only one goal allowed on 28 shots, he couldn&#8217;t really be asked to do much more besides get the shutout, which shouldn&#8217;t be a frequent ask considering the offensive firepower the Leafs should have up front.</p>
<p>Not an ideal situation to start the season in, but there&#8217;s no time for them to sulk and feel bad for themselves. If there&#8217;s one way the Leafs can win back their fans after dropping a donut against their biggest rivals in the season opener, it&#8217;s by defeating their former head coach in their proper home opener. We&#8217;ll see if they&#8217;re up to the task.</p>


The headline is satire if you didn't figure that out. But if you're a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I'd be hard-pressed to blame you for feeling like that.

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The Maple Leafs opened their season in the worst way imaginable, getting shut out by their arguable biggest rivals in the Montreal Canadiens, on the road. Carey Price-er, I mean Samuel Montembault, had 47 saves in the shutout for the Habs.

After some fireworks erupted in the Maple Leafs' last preseason game against the Canadiens that saw Patrik Laine leave with an injury (albeit with significantly different rosters), you had to predict that the Habs would come out with a chip on their shoulder. Factor in that they're on home ice and generally always show up for games against Toronto, and you could probably predict that the Leafs would be in tough to come away with a clean victory.

On the bright side? The penalty kill looked good. Sure, the Habs opened the scoring on their second power play of the game, but the Leafs killed off four of their five penalties, including a 5-on-3. On the negative side of things, the power play looked exactly how it did where they left off in the playoffs against Boston — lost. They went 0-for-4 on the power play, and although it looked slightly less predictable compared to how it normally does, they were held to the perimeter in an all-too-familiar story of struggling to get anything going with the advantage.

On the bright side, Anthony Stolarz looked calm in net compared to some of the floppier goalies we've seen in the crease for this team, and with only one goal allowed on 28 shots, he couldn't really be asked to do much more besides get the shutout, which shouldn't be a frequent ask considering the offensive firepower the Leafs should have up front.

Not an ideal situation to start the season in, but there's no time for them to sulk and feel bad for themselves. If there's one way the Leafs can win back their fans after dropping a donut against their biggest rivals in the season opener, it's by defeating their former head coach in their proper home opener. We'll see if they're up to the task.

Knee Jerk Reaction: Time to panic? Canadiens blank Maple Leafs 1-0 in season opener

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