Nov 22, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson (53) celebrates with teammate forward Ivan Demidov (93) after scoring a goal against Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll (60) during the second period at the Bell Centre. | Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
First period
Florian Xhekaj starts his first NHL shift with a loud hit on Troy Stecher in the offensive zone.
Well there’s a hockey game being played, but so far it looks like what you’d expect from teams that haven’t won many games in the past few weeks.
Jakub Dobeš shoots out his leg to pinch the puck on the post after a wraparound attempt by Dakota Joshua. A good save for him early.
It looks like Toronto is the first team to wake up in the contest.
The Leafs are probably doing Dobeš a favour by tossing pucks at him from range. He has six saves and only the wraparound could be classified as dangerous.
But, even that is more than Montreal has done, with one shots through seven minutes.
Just how bad has the Leafs’ defence been that a backcheck from a forward is worth two replays?
Brendan Gallagher triples the Habs’ shot total with a shift in the offensive zone. The goal last game has given him some confidence it appears.
Jayden Struble isn’t happy about a Leaf snowing Dobeš and then going after Florian, and ends up with an extra two from the scrum.
Tavares works in close to the net as Mike Matheson back off to protect the top of the crease, and backhands the puck off Josh Anderson at the side of the net.
Cole Caufield aggressively attacks the blue line to end the Leafs’ offensive-zone play, then turns the puck up ice. He gets over the line, hands the puck off to Suzuki, and with Gallagher drawing attention by crashing the net, Suzuki finds a trailing Lane Hutson to open the scoring.
Nick Suzuki with a patently absurd pass through traffic sets up Lane Hutson to make it 1-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) November 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Mere seconds later, Noah Dobson misfires on a one-timer set up by Matheson, but gets it through traffic to make it 2-0.
Great work by Mike Matheson in the OZ, spins and tees up Noah Dobson who makes it 2-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) November 22, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Gallagher gets tripped up and will earn the Canadiens a power play. Suddenly he’s very involved in the action as a silent start to the season.
Demidov just misses on a cross-ice feed from Suzuki that would have made it 3-0.
Zachary Bolduc gets the puck 15 feet from the net and opts for a blind reverse that misses Hutson and leaves the zone. That’s not what he’s on that unit to do.
Too much passing, and the players just don’t seem to understand that.
Demidov gets a shot in the final second, but misses just wide once more. He’s getting his chances, though, playing well once again with Slafkovský after they didn’t have much of an impact versus Washington.
That wasn’t the strongest period Montreal has played this season, but they finished it well. The most important thing is that Dobeš looks steady in the net, stopping all 11 shots he faced, such as they were.
Second period
The top line is determined to make it 3-0, but Joseph Woll denies both Caufield and Suzuki.
Hutson gets the next chance by going to the net for a Slafkovský pass. Woll stops his redirection.
Craig Berube might have to make another plea in the media trying to get his players to care about the game they get paid to play after this game.
Suzuki gets a one-time attempt. Montreal hasn’t seen a defensive zone this porous in a while.
Toronto had a good shift. Craig Simpson is giving them a gold star.
Now he’ll rip it off the performance evaluation as Slafkovský and Demidov go back to work. Slafkovský moves the puck up to Demidov near the side of the net who immediately bumps it back to a charging Dobson, and the Prince Edward Islander has two goals on the night.
Absolutely beautiful play by the Habs gives Noah Dobson his second goal of the night
3-0 Habs
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) November 22, 2025 at 9:22 PM
A shift on which the Canadiens made the Leafs look like an ECHL team results in a delayed penalty. Montreal moves the puck around well looking for the very available one-timer lanes. The ref’s arm must have been going numb because he blew the play down after the puck glanced off a Maple Leaf stick, spoiling the effort versus a fatigued Leafs unit.
Too many passes once more. There’s enough talent on the ice that the perfect setup isn’t required.
Slafkovský blows right through the defence that is clearly expecting a drop pass, and forced Woll into another great save.
Now it’s Demidov’s turn to burn past the defence, and he draws a hooking call. Montreal spends 1:12 with the puck creating a handful of chances with the extra skater. The ref is working on his calisthenics tonight.
Not to turn this effort into goal number four.
Oliver Kapanen almost gets it, then Woll robs Slafkovský on the rebound.
The power play expires, but Montreal keep outworking the Leafs. The fourth line puts together an overwhelming shift, and it ends with a goal for Josh Anderson who picks the top corner off Woll’s shoulder.
FIRST NHL POINT FOR FLORIAN XHEKAJ!
Josh Anderson with a snipe makes it 4-0
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) November 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Florian Xhekaj earns his first NHL point with the primary assist on the play.
Berube pulls the only player on his team who showed up tonight, putting in Dennis Hildeby.
The move seems to have had the effect Berune hopes. The Leafs have responded with some life.
Montreal will need to ramp its own play back up again. You can’t just sit on a four-goal lead versus William Nylander’s team.
Slafkovský sets up Kapanen for Montreal’s first chance in a while.
The Leafs take advantage of their better play since the goalie change by making it 4-1. This game isn’t over yet.
The lack of attention to detail that has crept in results in a too many men call. Suddenly there’s danger of this becoming a two-goal game.
The survived until the end of the period with a solid kill. That was shaping up to be the best period of the season, but they let up once they made it 4-0. That effort won’t do in the third.
Third period
Caufield turns defence to offence more with a breakaway from inside his blue line, but Hildeby makes the save.
The fourth line has another good shift in the offensive zone. Running a minute off the clock 150 feet away from their zone is a good thing at this stage.
Right now Dobes is just concerning himself with staying square to the shooter and letting the puck hit him. It’s not a bad strategy to try to get your game back.
Montreal is getting hemmed in more often now. They believe they’ve done enough to win this game.
Gallagher gets into a scrum with Dakota Mermis in the crease. Arber Xhekaj is watching on from the bench to see the numbers of the Leafs players involved.
Florian and Mermis drop the gloves in front of Toronto’s net and start chucking. For some reason Toronto gets a power play out of it with an extra slash on Xhekaj.
Nylander scores on the man advantage, and it’s 4-2 with five minutes to play.
The Leafs pull their goalie shortly after the goal.
Anderson nets his second goal, smack dab in the centre of the net from centre ice, to secure the win versus his favourite opponent.
Xhekaj tries to hold the puck for the final seconds, and Dakota Joshua comes in with a hit. Xhekaj wrestles him to the ice as the horn sounds.
Not a perfect game, but it is an important win. Now for three days off before a difficult road trip.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) They’re always trying to force the prospects to become stars
2) I think the correct answer is Jakub Dobeš
1) You don’t want to anger mama bear
