MONTREAL – Tyler Bozak scored shorthanded and Mason Raymond got the winner in his first game with the Maple Leafs as Toronto spoiled the Montreal Canadiens home opener with a 4-3 NHL victory on Tuesday night.
James van Riemsdyk and Dion Phaneuf also scored in a fight-filled contest that saw Montreal’s new enforcer George Parros carried off on a stretcher after Colton Orr pulled him down during a scrap, crashing the Canadiens forward’s face into the Bell Centre ice.
Lars Eller’s second goal of the game with 2:22 left to play set up a wild finish, but Montreal failed to get the equalizer. Eller also set up a goal by Brendan Gallagher.
The Canadiens’ 350th consecutive sellout crowd was electric as usual for a Montreal-Toronto game and it didn’t lack for action.
But the mood turned sombre 2:34 into the third period when Parros was prone on the ice. Orr had fallen and pulled down Parros, who was bleeding and looked woozy. A team of trainers spent several minutes treating him on the ice.
The crowd chanted Parros’ name as he was wheeled off the ice.
The Leafs were on a two-man advantage when Van Riemsdyk partially fanned on a shot at the side of the net that slipped between Carey Price’s pads 8:01 into the game.
The teams were each down a man when Raphael Diaz slipped a pass to Eller for a goal at 10:08 and Toronto was caught on a 3-on-1 when Montreal got the puck behind Carl Gunnarsson and Eller fed Gallagher at 13:54.
Phaneuf tied it 8:36 into the second as he broke in on the left side to put a wrist shot inside the far post. It was the 19,000th goal in Leafs history in 6,169 games since 1917.
Bozak put Toronto ahead shorthanded at 17:39 when he poked the puck away from defenceman Andrei Markov at the point and went in on a break to beat Price to the stick side.
Raymond, playing his first regular-season game for Toronto, finished a give-and-go with Troy Bodie 5:10 into the third.
Montreal got a scare midway through the first period when Max Pacioretty left with an apparent wrist injury after a hit from Orr. He returned in the second frame.
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