On Monday night the Canadiens won 3-2 in Toronto. It was their first game of the season.
Last year their first game was also in Toronto. On October 8, 2025, in the same building, against the same club. They lost 5-2.
Two openers, two opposite results. And a great deal that was identical.
Shots
| MTL | Toronto | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31 | 27 | 5-2 loss |
| 2026 | 24 | 28 | 3-2 win |
In 2025 the Canadiens outshot Toronto. They lost.
In 2026 they were outshot. They won.
This is not an accident. All last season the Canadiens took 26.3 shots per game and allowed 27.8. They were outshot from start to finish — and they finished with 106 points.
3 players lived the same night twice
William Nylander scored in both games. A goal and two assists in 2025. Both Toronto goals in 2026, one of them 48 seconds in.
So did Zachary Bolduc. He is the only Canadien to have scored in both openers.
Kirby Dach picked up an assist each time.
The rest changed. In 2025 the Montreal goals came from Bolduc and Oliver Kapanen. In 2026, from Josh Anderson, Alexandre Carrier and Bolduc.
All three stars in 2025 were Maple Leafs
Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Bobby McMann. No Canadien.
A year later, Carrier and Anderson took two of the three.
What the loss predicted
Nothing.
The Canadiens finished the season at 48-24-10, or 106 points. Tied with Tampa Bay, and behind only four teams: Colorado, Carolina, Dallas and Buffalo.
Then they won 2 Game 7s. The first 2-1 over Tampa, the second 3-2 in overtime over Buffalo. They reached the conference final, where Carolina eliminated them in five. Three weeks later, Carolina won the Stanley Cup.
It was the club's best season since 2016-17. It had started with a 5-2 loss.
And so
Monday's win predicts nothing either.
An opener is one game out of 84. Last year's was wrong. Nothing says this one is right.