After an interminable wait, Habs fans can finally get back to enjoying hockey as an 84-game season gets underway tonight against the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. After reaching the Eastern Conference Final last season, expectations are high among both the fans and the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge front office. As for me, this will be my first season with you on the Councourse, and I have to admit that I’m happy to bring you my first game preview of the 2026–27 season!
I’ll try to do better than my 43–39 record, which gave me a modest 52% success rate last season. By the way, I invite you to leave your predictions before every game and see how you stack up against me. I’ll keep track of your results alongside mine and maintain the standings throughout the season. I’d love to see lots of you take part. I’ll also place an SGP bet for every game our beloved Habs play and post my ticket in the comments. If you have bets or betting suggestions, I invite you to post your tickets and suggestions in the comments as well.
Now, on to the very first game of the season, as our beloved Habs visit the new-look Leafs, now led by Jim Hiller.
Canadiens vs. Leafs — Game 1
I don’t know what you think of this first matchup of the season, but I believe the Leafs will pick up their first win of the season tonight against Martin St-Louis’s team!
As I mentioned in my game-preview headline, one game doesn’t make a season. So if the Habs lose tonight, don’t panic or start calling for everything to change after just one game. I hope I’m wrong, but I have a few concerns, including the first line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and newcomer Chris Kreider.
I attended the first two games at the Bell Centre, and you probably noticed, as I did, that this line wasn’t very convincing—especially considering it was facing a B-team lineup. I don’t know whether these three players will develop chemistry, but I doubt it will happen tonight in Toronto.
The forward lines and defensive pairings expected for tonight’s game are the same as they were at yesterday’s practice, and I really don’t like the third defensive pairing of Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj. Again, you probably noticed for yourselves that the two of them together in the preseason games were far from convincing—or reassuring. The Leafs will have the last change tonight, and Jim Hiller will certainly be tempted to send out his big guns whenever that pair is on the ice.
Another thing that worries me about this matchup is the penalty kill, which was dreadful in the preseason. If I’m not mistaken, the Canadiens allowed 9 goals on 27 opportunities, for a very poor success rate of 66.7%. In my humble opinion, it will take a few games to adjust to Lalonde’s new, more aggressive system before we see positive results—of course!
Finally, despite an incredible finish to the season and a brilliant playoff run, I’m eager to see how Jakub Dobes responds to the challenge now that all the pressure is on him, with a new contract in hand and the No. 1 job from the start. One thing is certain: being the Montreal Canadiens’ No. 1 goalie isn’t easy, and fans often have a short fuse when it comes to the starting goaltender. Just ask Samuel Montembeault, among others, who went from hero to zero in a single season.
Here are the expected lines for the game:
Kreider-Suzuki-Caufield
Slafkovsky-Newhook-Demidov
Texier-Danault-Dach
Bolduc-Evans-Anderson
Hutson-Carrier
Matheson-Dobson
Xhekaj-Struble
Dobes
Montembeault
Prediction
MTL 3
TOR 4
Have a great day, everyone, and enjoy the game!