Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle pushed the buttons and pulled the levers at the right time against the Canadiens Saturday night, resulting in a win. (Reuters)
TORONTO - The perfect storm hammered Montreal on the weekend. Unrelenting snow, sleet and rain with claps of thunder thrown in.
Inside the Bell Centre, the Maple Leafs had the right hockey elements in their favour, much to the locals’ discomfort. They put a thick layer of slush between the Canadiens’ path to goalie Ben Scrivens and tracked mucky footprints through the house, ruining the Habs’ neat and orderly opening-night program.
But the 48-game NHL schedule will see many unpredictable weather patterns and the Leafs know better than be smug about one result. Monday’s match against the Sabres, who’ve been a dark cloud over the Leafs for decades, should prove a harder task. And the week includes road games in Pittsburgh and Manhattan, both home to clubs with far better track records than Toronto.
To have any chance of generating more points, the Leafs need to recreate conditions in Montreal as much as possible.
