Maple Leafs’ power play looks scary

MONTREAL Let’s peer into the crystal ball and predict what opposing National Hockey League coaches will be preaching to their players when the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the other side this season. Discipline.

Failing that, head to the penalty box at your peril.

The Leafs’ top power-play unit of John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly got down to business against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, scoring on Toronto’s first power play at the Bell Centre.

In the second period, with Tavares and Rielly on the bench, parts of the unit scored again, as Matthews took a pass from Marner and went high on goalie Carey Price.

In the first period, it was Kadri scoring, with Matthews and Marner assisting.

The goals with the man advantage helped the Leafs, resembling greatly their opening-night roster, emerge with a 5-3 win.

While the potential of the power play is scary, coach Mike Babcock was saying this week that the Leafs have lots of work to do in the final days of the pre-season.

Babcock was bang on, as the Leafs’ five-on-five play, especially in the defensive zone, left plenty to be desired.

The Leafs don’t have a captain, yet Matthews sure sounded like one afterward.

“If you don’t do things right, play the right way, make plays, take care of the puck, all that high-powered offence is kind of pointless,” Matthews said. “We have a lot of work to do. This is a probably a good little wake-up call for us going into the final pre-season game and the regular season.”

The Leafs’ main group is expected to play the Detroit Red Wings’ best group on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena, with Toronto and Detroit meeting the following night in Motown to finish the pre-season.

A hallmark of the Leafs is their quickness, but the Canadiens, who also used a majority of NHLers, often were quicker and more determined, forcing the Leafs into errors at both ends.

Frederik Andersen had to be sharp to cover up for his teammates, making 33 saves.

“Their team worked harder than our team and we turned the puck over way too many times,” Babcock said. “We got better as the game went on, but Andy had to be real good and you don’t want to play like we did. We got skill. Now we have to learn how to play right.”

Is one remaining pre-season game for the main group enough to work out the kinks?

“We should be able to iron it out (today), right?” Babcock said with a smirk, referring to practice.