The Toronto Maple Leafs' opening night contest against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday was a spirited affair, chock full of energy, high skill and vigorous competition. One need only take a peek at the highlights to understand how close this one was - a back-and-forth battle all night that eventually went to OT, where Morgan Rielly would bury a beautiful feed from Leafs captain John Tavares to secure the victory.
In an interesting occurrence during the contest, Canadiens head coach Claude Julien appeared to show his hand, revealing his game plan against the Leafs, which was written on the notebook that he appeared to have habitually used to cover his mouth while talking on the Habs bench - despite the fact that already wearing a face mask.
Among the veteran coach's list of notes for the game appeared the words "Short shifts", "Pucks at net", "Discipline" and "Give them nothing".
When looking over the content on Julien's list, it's easy to see where the Habs excelled and where they fell short on following the game plan. Though the first two directions were, for the most part, followed to the letter, the Habs definitely did not show much discipline and provided a dangerous Leafs team with far too many opportunities to claw their way back into a game in which the Habs were in complete control, boasting a 3-1 lead in the 2nd frame.
The good news is that these teams meet nine additional times this season, so the Habs will have plenty of time to try and avenge the loss.
The loss came with a few silver-linings, as newcomer Josh Anderson was an absolute machine in his Habs debut, scoring twice and landing 3 big hits in the game. In addition, youngster Nick Suzuki, who opened the scoring on the power play, was sensational at both ends of the ice, and Jonathan Drouin, who has struggled at points with the Canadiens, registered three assists in the tilt.
With these two teams not meeting again until February, Julien will have plenty of time to tighten the screws up and down the lineup before the next contest. Now I'm not saying the Leafs saw it, but if they did, it's one thing for your opponent to see your game plan.. it's another thing entirely for them to be able to execute a proper counter-attack. Still, perhaps next time Julien will me more mindful and keep his strategy off camera.
