The Toronto Maple Leafs visited Montreal on Saturday with a new-look lineup that brought Mitch Marner back into the fold and spread their elite forwards across three lines in an effort to mount a balanced attack.

The decision to spread out the big guns didn’t pay off in the early going as the team managed just four shots in the first period, but things began to come together for Toronto in the second.

Leaving the Tyler Bertuzzi-Auston Matthews-Max Domi line intact instead of throwing Marner back on the top unit looked wise when that group delivered two goals in a 17-second span — a flurry that included Matthews locking in the sixth 100-point season in Maple Leafs history with his 64th goal.

From that point on things went to plan for Toronto in a 4-2 win.

Less than six minutes after the rapid-fire opening goals, Toronto had scored two more, one each from the Marner and William Nylander groups. The team was good on the promise of its lineup concept as no player recorded more than one point, but more than half of the forwards made a mark in the box score.

The Canadiens fought back with a pair of goals in the back half of the second, but they didn’t threaten often in the third, allowing the Maple Leafs to earn a fairly comfortable victory.

Three stars

1. Auston Matthews

No individual had a monster game, so the nod goes to the guy who secured the sixth 100-point season in Maple Leafs history.

64 FOR 34!! pic.twitter.com/rDxh9NW1pO

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 7, 2024

The second and third lines took some time to get going, but the Matthews group was dangerous from start to finish. His expected goal rate (71.55 percent) was tops among Toronto’s forwards, and he led the team in individual scoring chances (6).

2. Max Domi

Domi entered Saturday’s action in the midst of an 11-game goalless drought. The last time he had lit the lamp was on the Maple Leafs’ most recent trip to Montreal — and the former Hab found the twine in his former home once again on a nice tip.

DOMI DEFLECTION! pic.twitter.com/20bznrT7sD

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 7, 2024

Even though Domi hadn’t been scoring much lately, he had been impactful in recent weeks with eight assists in his 11 goal-less games. His work alongside Matthews lately has been a success story as he’s shown a knack for finding the sniper’s stick.

On Saturday he was characteristically successful setting up the top-line centre even if it didn’t result in any assists, though he nearly got one when Matthews hit the post late in the third.

Domi played 15:20 — the third-lowest total of any top-nine forward — but he made that time count. The Maple Leafs outshot Montreal 11-6 in his five-on-five minutes with an expected goal rate of 70.63 percent.

3. Mitch Marner

Marner didn’t dominate in his return to action, but he was impactful in his modest 17:20. The winger’s biggest moment came in the second when his pass put Bobby McMann in perfect position to beat Samuel Montembeault.

That Mann loves magic 🪄 pic.twitter.com/30qLGZMkes

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 7, 2024

It would’ve been easy for Keefe to put Marner with Matthews, but he gave his returning star a more difficult assignment — and he rose to the challenge. While Marner has plenty of history with John Tavares, he hadn’t played with him at five-on-five regularly in months, and his experience playing with McMann was negligible before Saturday.

None of that mattered as Marner helped his brand-new line earn an expected goal share of 59.33 percent.

Matthews gets 100 the hard way

Although Matthews reached his triple-digit point total with the help of a fortunate deflection, that good bounce wasn’t reflective of his tough road to 100.

Not only does he deserve extra credit for his massive goal total, but he’s also been far less reliant on cheap points than many of his contemporaries.

Matthews has just two empty-net points to his name, a meagre number topped by 124 players entering Saturday’s action — including David Kämpf, who eats plenty of closing minutes for Toronto. As a reference point, Nikita Kucherov leads the league with 13 empty-net points.

Matthews has also been productive without many empty-calorie second assists. His 14 rank sixth on the Maple Leafs, and were tied for 100th in the NHL at the beginning of the night.

There is a notable gap between Matthews and the Art Ross Trophy candidates, but the league’s top goal scorer hasn’t had his total inflated by points that were either easier to come by, or less integral to scoring plays.

Marner’s solid return

While the Maple Leafs went 7-4-1  in Marner’s recent absence scoring four goals per game along the way — Toronto is a far better team when he’s in the lineup.

The star winger slotted in on the team’s second line with Tavares and McMann, though he did get a little time back with Matthews at four-on-four. He was limited slightly by his fourth-lightest workload in 2023-24, but provided nifty plays at both ends of the ice when called upon.

One of Marner’s most important contributions to the Maple Leafs on a game-to-game basis is his special teams work because he tends to play on the top power-play and penalty-killing units. The winger was unable to showcase his value in those situations in this one, though, considering each team only received one power play.

Marner didn’t see the ice on the PK against Montreal, either, because Toronto spent just 12 seconds down a man thanks to a quick Nick Suzuki goal.

As far as the power play went, he looked threatening in his 1:10, making a surprising decisive move to the net and trying to cram one through in tight. Toronto scored just three goals in 39 power-play attempts while he was out and needs Marner to step up in that area, but it’s going to take more time to see if he can help revive the PP1 group.

Game score

Final grade: B

The Maple Leafs only played one period they could be proud of, but it was all they needed against a squad that couldn’t match their firepower.

After a few games in recent weeks that included some dubious lead protection — including wins over the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers — Toronto’s effort shutting down Montreal in the third was noteworthy as the Maple Leafs held the Canadiens to nine shots worth 0.78 expected goals.

Keefe won’t be happy with how his team started this game, but some of that can be chalked up to the line shuffle. While the first game with the experimental alignment wasn’t an unmitigated triumph, it was no disaster.

What’s next for the Leafs?

On Monday, the Maple Leafs are hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet.

(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)