The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped both pre-season split-squad games against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. In Montreal, the Canadiens won in overtime with a Cole Caufield game-winning goal. At Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Habs took the contest 4-1.
With several players debuting for the Maple Leafs and a new style under a new coach, here are the main takeaways from Saturday night.
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1. Gavin McKenna Learning, But Not Afraid
In Gavin McKenna’s first pre-season game in the NHL, he logged 20:27 of ice time, three shots on goal, two blocks, a minus-one rating and a minor penalty.
“It was good,” McKenna said about how he felt. “Obviously, not the result we wanted, but I think it was a good start. There’s lots to work on. It’s the first game of the year. A little bit scrambly, but I think as we build, it’ll get a lot easier.
“I felt pretty good. I thought I created a bit, but also had a couple turnovers, which I think kind of just happens with nerves. But I think it was a good start, and a lot to build on,” he added.
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He didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he wasn’t away from the action and had a handful of chances throughout the contest.
“I thought it was good,” head coach Jim Hiller assessed McKenna’s performance. “In a game where I didn’t think there was a lot of offense from either team, you know, he was in on three or four chances, so you’ll take that every day. So, yeah, I thought he was good. Good start for him.”
At some points in the game, McKenna was distant from the play. But there is no mistake to be made that he is a confident player who knows how skilled he is. And most importantly, he wasn’t afraid to make a pass that would thread the needle, or a rink-wide connector in transition. That’s proof of a confident individual, especially in his first game wearing NHL colors.
“If I say one thing to him, just to be a little bit closer to the puck, a little bit closer,” Hiller said. “We want him to have the puck. And sometimes in the NHL, you’ve got to just get right there and surround it and then make plays out of that rather than, you know, waiting and seeing if somebody can get it to you. So he’ll figure that part of the game out for either side.”
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“It’s not easy,” captain Auston Matthews admitted. “You jump into your first game after a very short two practices and then right into a pre-season game in the NHL. But (McKenna’s) going to continue to get better as camp goes on, as he gets more comfortable and adjusts to this pace of play. But, you know, obviously he had moments out there where you can tell just how skilled and how talented he is and what he can do.”
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2. Auston Matthews Looks Much Quicker
Matthews played his first NHL game in a long time. His last appearance was against the Anaheim Ducks on March 12.
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With an extended summer of rehabbing and recovering from his major knee injury and surgery, he looks to be much faster on the ice than all of last season.
“I think the first, maybe first half of the first period, definitely felt pretty rusty, but as the game went on, it felt better and better,” Matthews said after the game. “As we continue to skate and practice and play one more game, I think just the conditioning of the legs kind of get going a little bit more and transition into game shape a little bit.
“But all in all, I mean, it was a good first game. I thought I had some good moments, good opportunities, and take that and go from there and keep building.”
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Hiller remembers one notable moment from Saturday’s game that stood out to him.
“I thought he was really skating,” the bench boss said. “I thought he had the puck, and he looked dangerous. I think if I think of one moment in the game was when he rounded the net, came through, kind of sliced through a couple guys end-to-end. You know, I hadn’t seen that a lot out of him last year, and so that was a really positive thing to see. He was moving, carrying the puck. It was dangerous, and the goalie and made a couple really good saves on him.”
Matthews recorded one assist, played 22:19 of ice time, a minus-two rating and a game-high of six shots on goal.
3. Chris Tanev Appears To Be At Full Speed
It was a long time coming back for Matthews, but that’s nothing compared to the journey Chris Tanev has made. His last game before Saturday’s pre-season outing was on Dec. 28 last season. Since then, he’s dealt with spinal trauma and core surgery to recover for 2026-27.
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Despite all that bodily distress over the past year, the shutdown defenseman looked the part and like his usual self on the back end.
Tanev had three blocks in this game, and also notched 18:23 of ice time. It’s also worth noting that he and his D-partner, Jake McCabe, were the only skaters for the Maple Leafs to not finish the game with a minus plus-minus rating.
“To me, being out as much as he did, I would have never guessed,” Hiller said of Tanev’s first performance since his long-term injury. “Played quite a bit of minutes. You see him penalty kill, he’s breaking up plays, he’s doing what he does. So, yeah, it’s just a really important player for us. It’s great to have him back out there.”
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4. Fight Night In Montreal And Nick Blankenburg Paying The Price
While eyes were on McKenna and the rest of the stars that featured in Toronto, there was a feisty game at the Bell Centre, particularly in the early stages of the contest.
Maple Leafs’ Michael Pezzetta and Teddy Blueger dropped the gloves with Canadiens’ Lucas Condotta and Ethan Samson, with both tilts coming in the first period of the game. Pezzetta accumulated 17 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct, with his short night complete with 4:50 of ice time.
Beyond the fisticuffs, Nick Blankenburg, who is on a PTO with the Maple Leafs this pre-season, registered eight blocks against the Canadiens and logged 24:47 of ice time, which was three seconds shy of matching Lane Hutson’s game-high 24:50.
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The 5-foot-9 defenseman certainly found a way to stand out for the side that Daniel Alfredsson watched over in Quebec.
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