Sept. 19: NHL Preseason Roundup

Cole Caufield scored with 38 seconds left in overtime, lifting the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday.

With the Maple Leafs making a change, Caufield made a move around Logan Shaw at the offensive blue line and finished a 2-on-0 give-and-go with Lane Hutson by scoring over Samuel Hlavaj’s outstretched left pad.

Hutson had a goal and two assists, and Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov scored for the Canadiens. Jakub Dobes made nine saves on 11 shots before being replaced by Jacob Fowler midway through the second period. Fowler made nine saves.

Chris Kreider was held without a point in his debut with Montreal, finishing with one shot on goal in 17:05 of ice time. The forward signed a one-year contract with the Canadiens on Sept. 12, two days after the Anaheim Ducks terminated his contract.

Henrik Rybinski had a goal and an assist, and Colton Sissons scored in his Maple Leafs debut. Artur Akhtyamov made 13 saves on 15 shots before being replaced midway through the second by Hlavaj, who also made 13 saves.

It was one of two split-squad games the teams played against each other on opening night of the NHL preseason.

Slafkovsky put Montreal in front 1-0 at 4:27 of the first period with a tip-in, and Demidov pushed it to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 12:04 when he scored with a one-timer from low in the right face-off circle.

Toronto then scored three straight goals to take the lead, starting with Rybinski’s power-play goal from the doorstep at 3:56 of the second to make it 2-1. Sissons, who signed a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs on July 1, then tied it 2-2 at 8:32 with a deflection of Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot through traffic on the man-advantage, and Johnstone gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 16:21 by knocking in Rybinski’s backhand pass at the edge of the crease.

Hutson tied it 3-3 at 2:43 of the third period. He got to a loose puck and snapped a wrist shot from the left hash marks to the far side.

Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 1: Phillip Danault scored two goals for the Montreal Canadiens in a split-squad win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, made his debut for the Maple Leafs and had three shots on goal and one blocked shot in 23:27 of ice time.

Maksymilian Szuber and Samuel Poulin also scored for the Canadiens, and Sam Montembeault stopped all 13 shots he faced. Kaapa Kahkonen replaced him midway through the second period and made 11 saves.

Darren Raddysh scored for Toronto in his debut after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a fifth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft on June 19, signing an eight-year contract in a sign-and-trade.

Sergei Bobrovsky, who signed a three-year contract with Toronto as a free agent on July 1, made 10 saves in his Maple Leafs debut. Anthony Stolarz made 15 saves in relief after entering the game midway through the second period.

Each team was playing its preseason opener.

Danault gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead just 51 seconds into the game, scoring top shelf over Bobrovsky’s left side.

Raddysh scored a power-play goal at 16:39 to tie the game 1-1, his slap shot from inside the blue line deflecting in off Montreal’s Mike Matheson.

Szuber made it 2-1 with a slap shot through traffic from the blue line past Stolarz at 4:46 of the third period.

Danault scored into an empty net at 18:59 to make it 3-1, and Poulin tipped a puck past Stolarz at 19:37 for the 4-1 final.

Stars 2, Blues 1: Jack Becker scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period for the Dallas Stars against the St. Louis Blues in the preseason opener for each team at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

Becker put the Stars ahead 2-1 at 18:29 after the puck deflected in off Jordan Binnington on the breakaway.

Arttu Hyry also scored for the Stars. Remi Poirier made 11 saves over the first two periods before being replaced by Brandon Halverson, who stopped all 12 shots he faced in the third.

Aleksanteri Kaskimaki scored for the Blues. Binnington made 16 saves on 18 shots in the first two periods. Georgii Romanov stopped all 10 shots he faced in relief.

Hyry gave Dallas a 1-0 lead 16 seconds into the first period, scoring into an open net off a backhand pass by Cameron Hughes near the right post.

Kaskimaki tied it 1-1 at 13:30 of the second period, finishing on a 2-on-1 with a wrist shot from the right circle.