The 2013 NHL Season Begins

Kadri's powerplay goal early in the first period helped lift Toronto to their first win of the season. (Photo by  Richard Wolowicz)

Wow. Saturday night is back to its good ol’ self.

The Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens 2-1 in what felt like a relatively boring game to watch. In perfect fashion to slap Ron Wilson and Brian Burke in the face, Nazem Kadri scored Toronto’s opening goal on the season, at 4:51 of the first period. There was a fairly good fight between Mike Brown and Brandon Prust shortly after the goal. (I thought for sure it’d be Colton Orr in the fight, since it was his first time on the ice in ages)

Overall I’m pretty impressed with Toronto tonight in their opening game. (THEY WON!!! :D yayyy) I’m also happy with the performance of Ben Scrivens, with a save percentage of .955, and a completely unexpected starting goaltender in the first place! I look forward to seeing him play this season, even if he occasionally takes a spill and sits down behind his net…I also was impressed with rookie defenceman Michael Kostka, I mean, it’s your first NHL game and you play with PHANEUF for God’s sake! I hope Carlyle keeps Kostka on the ice, he went beyond impressing me. Kostka was second in ice-time for Maple Leafs defencemen tonight, there’s a reason why he played so much.

Mike Brown and Brandon Prust, about the best photo of a hockey fight you'll see in your life... (Photo by  Francois Lacasse)

Overall, a great start for Toronto, hope to see the same hard work out of them on Monday night! (Hopefully, the next 47 games won’t be as slow as tonight’s was at times; the players have got to get back into it!)

On a completely unrelated note, Canadiens captain Brian Gionta got the goal that his son challenged him to score, so kudos to him! A high note for the Bell Centre during the game…