Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs: Game Preview, Lines, Odds, Predictions, & more

The Montreal Canadiens head to play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday in both teams' first game of the 2023-24 NHL season. Montreal missed the playoffs last season and finished last year with the fifth-worst record in the NHL. Toronto, meanwhile, finally got out of the first round but was quickly eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the second round.

The game goes down at 7 p.m. ET at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It can be seen on ESPN+ in the States and Sportsnet in Canada.

Montreal Canadiens preview

The Montreal Canadiens are firmly in a rebuild but do have a young core to build around with the likes of Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, and Nick Suzuki.

Montreal also has a very good up-and-coming D-core but the goaltending is a big issue. Entering this season, the Habs have three goaltenders Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault, and Cayden Primeau.

The hope is one of the three goalies prove themselves to be the franchise guy and help Montreal become a contender.

Toronto Maple Leafs preview

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year.

The Maple Leafs are led by their core four Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander. However, Toronto went out and added some more grit in Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and Ryan Reaves which was needed.

Toronto also brought back Ilya Samsonov as their starting goaltender while Joseph Woll will be their backup.

Montreal Canadiens lines

Forwards

• Caufield-Suzuki-Anderson
• Newhook-Dach-Slafkovsky
• Pearson-Monahan-Gallagher
• Harvey-Pinard-Evans-Ylonen

Defensemen

• Matheson-Savard
• Guhle-Kovacevic
• Harris-Xhekaj

Goalies

• Allen
• Montembeault

Toronto Maple Leafs lines

Forwards

• Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner
• Domi-Tavares-Nylander
• Knies-Minten-Jarnkrok
• Gregor-Kampf-Reaves

Defensemen

• Rielly-Brodie
• McCabe-Klingberg
• Giordano-Liljergen

Goalies

• Samsonov
• Woll

Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs Odds & Predictions

The Toronto Maple Leafs are sizeable -298 favorites with the comeback on Montreal at +240. The over/under is set at 6.5, with the over juiced at -122.

Toronto has the much better team on paper and will have a packed arena to cheer them on in their season opener as the Maple Leafs have a ton of hype entering this season.

Toronto should be able to score plenty on the Canadiens goaltenders. The Maple Leafs' power play should also be a difference-maker in this game, as Toronto will get out to an early lead and cruise to a win.

Prediction: Toronto 5, Montreal 2