Special teams give Leafs the edge against Canadiens

Rookie Galchenyuk impresses in debut; team shows improvement in faceoff circle

The skinny: Special teams proved to be the difference in Saturday night’s season opener. The Canadiens and the Maple Leafs had five power plays each, but Toronto outscored Montreal 2-1. Nazem Kadri opened the scoring for the Leafs and Tyler Bozak provided the winner in the second period after Tomas Plekanec was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for providing Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens with a snow shower. Captain Brian Gionta scored the Montreal goal. Long time coming: Gionta’s goal was his first since Dec. 6. 2011, but his goal drought shouldn’t be confused with the year-long slump his longtime friend and linemate Scott Gomez went through. Gionta missed most of last season with a torn bicep and that means he had gone without a goal for only four games before beating Ben Scrivens at 13:51 of the third period. Impressive debuts: Alex Galchenyuk played a shade over 13 minutes in his NHL debut and didn’t look out of place. The 18-year-old’s finest moment came early in the first period when Scrivens had trouble handling a hard shot from the left wing. Scrivens left a rebound but, as was the case for most of the night, there was nobody in front to take advantage. Toronto defenceman Michael Kostka had an even bet- ter NHL debut. A 27-year-old journeyman from the University of Massachusetts, Kostka was paired with Dion Phaneuf and played 22:59. He collected an assist on Kadri’s goal and delivered a gamehigh eight hits. Doing what he does best: Speaking of hits, Mike Komasarek played the kind of game that made him a crowd favourite in his days with the Canadiens. Komisarek, who was celebrating his 31st birthday, doesn’t move the puck well and he’s not an offensive threat, but he can play a physical game, as evidenced by his six hits and four blocked shots. Prust drops ’em: Brandon Prust displayed his skills as a pugilist when he fought Mike Brown in the first period. Prust literally undressed Brown as he landed several punches and then brought the scrap to an end by pulling Brown’s jersey over his head. Good beginnings: The highlight of the night was the opening ceremony, which was done in fine style. There was a tribute to the fans with a montage of folks singing “Olé, Olé” and former captains Yvan Cournoyer, Henri Richard, Vincent Damphousse, Serge Savard and Jean Béliveau passed the torch to current captain Gionta. The torch was subsequently passed to each of the players as they were introduced. Not so good ending: While the introductions were greeted with loud ovations — coach Michel Therrien, Galchenyuk, defenceman Francis Bouillon and goaltender Carey Price received the warmest welcomes — the sellout crowd of 21,273 became restless as the night went on. The first boos came as the second period ended and there was a muted “We want P.K.” chant moments before Gionta broke the ice with his goal. Quick on the draw: The Canadiens showed an improvement in the faceoff circle, winning 62 per cent of their draws. Plekanec won 13 of 20, David Desharnais won eight of 14 and Lars Eller won five of 10. But it was fourthliners Prust and Ryan White who had the most success. White won four of five and Prust won three of four. What’s next: The Canadiens will greet an old friend when they take on the Florida Panthers Tuesday at the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., RDS, TSN 690 Radio). Alex Kovalev signed a one-year deal with the Panthers on Friday and paid immediate dividends when he scored a goal and added two assists in Florida’s 5-1 win over Carolina.