The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators preseason two-fer looked like a heated playoff battle compared to a sleepy season-opening 5-2 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Forward Zachary Bolduc scored in his debut for the Habs. Oliver Kapanen scored the other shorthanded.

Sam Montembeault was saddled with the loss in a 22-save effort.

It was a quiet affair on the ice and in the stands at the Maple Leafs’ barn, save for the odd update from the Blue Jays game that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

The Leafs opened the night by paying tribute to the late Ken Dryden, former Habs goaltender and also president of the Leafs.

Bobby McMann opened scoring with a deflection off the draw exactly one minute into the contest.

That was followed by the Kapanen equalizer, an unassisted goal on the penalty kill. Tied 1-1 after one period.

In the second period, Bolduc cashed in on loose puck in front to give the Habs their first and only lead on the night.

But the Leafs responded just four minutes later, when Calle Jarnkrok spun and fired to beat Montembeault. The score was tied 2-2 after two periods.

Things started to pick up towards the end of period when Juraj Slafkovsky and Oliver Ekman-Larsson traded shoves. Slaf led the team with six shots, but failed to find the back of the net.

Morgan Rielly scored the 3-2 go-ahead goal near the midway point of the third period, on a play started by a broken Lane Hutson stick.

The Leafs would not relinquish the lead, and added two empty netters for their cause in the dying moments of the third period. Auston Matthews scored in his 13th opening night. The Leafs also continued their home streak against the Habs: they entered the night with 10 straight wins at Scotiabank Arena against Montreal.

So how did the signature new Hab fare in Game 1? Big blue line acquisition Noah Dobson led the team in ice time with 22:56, but was held pointless. Ivan Demidov, who’s still considered a rookie after only getting a cup of coffee a year ago, missed a golden chance in the slot in the third.

The Habs continue their road trip Thursday night in Detroit, followed by another Original Six matchup on Saturday in Chicago.

To our longtime Liveblog readers: as you likely noticed, comments are temporarily unavailable on the website. We tried something a little different to keep the conversation going by migrating the chat over to the Hockey Inside Out YouTube channel. If you can tolerate seeing my face on your screen for three hours, the comment section is as close to the real deal as we’ll get for the time being. Just a note: there will be no Liveblog Thursday, but it will return on Saturday.

Here’s what some of the commenters had to say:

3. “If not for bad luck the Habs would have no luck.” -Blue Fro

 

2. “Need the other three lines to gel. Brand new experience for them.” -Randy N

 

1. “So who is our saviour this year? Joe Veleno?” -Max Gray