Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner show they may have finally figured it out, immediately jump into scrum

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Cooper Godin
October 12, 2023 (8:08)

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One of the NHL's greatest rivals, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, got their seasons underway on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena and it was a highly-entertaining game.

The Canadiens blew a pair of two-goal leads throughout the night, while Toronto blew a one-goal lead of their own, but Auston Matthews stepped up and netted goals 301 and 302 of his career late in the third period to tie things up at 5-5. Toronto would then go on to take the two points after a shootout win, with the only goal coming off the stick of Mitch Marner.

It wouldn't be a Canadiens vs Maple Leafs game without a bit of fireworks and that's just what happened early in the third period. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen made a nice save in tight on Auston Matthews, with the puck between Allen's legs, Tyler Bertuzzi comes in and tries to jam at it, which drew the ire of several Canadiens players.

Things went downhill from there as a melee broke out between both teams. Montreal's Josh Anderson and Toronto's Tyler Bertuzzi were the only two players to walk away with penalty minutes. Bertuzzi landed two minutes for roughing and two minutes for slashing, as Anderson got two minutes for roughing.

What is most notable about this scrum for the Leafs is that both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner immediately jumped into the scrum, something neither player has done in the past. It will be interesting to see if those players can keep this up, because if so, look out NHL.

The Maple Leafs and Canadiens won't face each other again until Saturday, March 9th at the Bell Centre, one day after the NHL's trade deadline. They'll then play their third and final game of the season against one another on Saturday, April 6th, also in Montreal.