Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Prediction, NHL Odds
What better way for the bitter rival Canadiens and Maple Leafs to open the NHL season than against one another? They will do so yet again Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena with Toronto at -150 on the NHL odds and a total of 5.5 goals.
Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs NHL Betting Odds
The NHL has scheduled these two to face off in their regular-season openers each year this decade, and there’s no reason to stop as there’s no better way to christen a campaign with this Original Six historic matchup.
Last year, Montreal beat visiting Toronto 1-0 in the opener as Sam Montembeault made 48 saves and Cole Caufield’s first-period power-play goal stood up. The saves were an NHL record in a season-opening shutout. Montembeault became the seventh Canadiens goalie with a season-opening shutout. Anthony Stolarz was a tough-luck loser with 26 saves.
While the Habs got the upper hand for that one, the Maple Leafs won the final three meetings to win the season series for the second year in a row. Mitch Marner (2G, 3A) led Toronto with five points in the series but of course was the big free agent on the NHL market this off-season and signed a big deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. Auston Matthews had a goal in his three games. Stolarz finished 1-1 in the series with a 0.51 GAA, while Joseph Woll won both his starts and had a 2.00 GAA. No Montreal player had more than two points in the season series. Montembeault finished 1-2 with a 3.39 GAA, while Jakub Dobes allowed one goal in an overtime loss in his lone start.
Toronto has won seven straight at home vs. Montreal. The under is 5-1 in the past six meetings overall.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal’s Martin St. Louis was on one of the hottest coaching seats in the NHL at one point last season, but the Canadiens surged at the end and snuck into the playoffs, so St. Louis is safe for now.
But expectations have certainly been raised especially after Montreal acquired star defenceman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders for two first-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft and forward Emil Heineman in the trade. The 25-year-old Dobson, who signed a big extension with the Habs, had 39 points (10 goals, 29 assists) in 71 games last year.
Now the team has one of the best young bluelines in the NHL with Dobson and rising superstar Lane Hutson, last year’s Calder Trophy winner. Hutson (66 points) became the fourth defenceman in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44) to lead rookies in scoring. His 60 assists matched Larry Murphy (1980-81) for the most by a rookie blueliner in league history.
Sam Montembeault will be in net Wednesday. He was much better at home last season, going 22-11-5 with a 2.59 GAA and .910 SV. Promising young winger Ivan Demidov, just 19, is in question after missing the preseason finale with a wrist injury.
Toronto Maple Leafs
There’s no question that Toronto is a worse team than the last game it played that counted, a 6-1 home loss in Game 7 of the second round of the East playoffs back on May 18 to Florida because the Leafs lost star forward Mitch Marner in free agency to Vegas. He led the club with 102 points and 75 assists a year ago as well as leading all forwards in average ice time (21:18).
The new member of the “Core Four” alongside Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares is Matthew Knies. He and Tavares both signed extensions this off-season.
Toronto has an envious goaltending situation with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, but Woll took a leave of absence from the team last month for personal reasons and there’s no timeline for his return.
So it will be Stolarz on Wednesday with Dennis Hildeby as the No. 2. Stolarz was brilliant on home ice last year at 12-5-1 with a 1.86 GAA, .932 SV and three shutouts.
