TORONTO — Thud. The sound was stomach-turning.
The outcome of a game or even a playoff series nearly a half-century in the making seemed significantly less important after seeing Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares crumpled on the ice after just 10 minutes, the result of taking Corey Perry’s knee to the head in a frightening high-speed collision that appeared to be more of an unfortunate accident than anything malicious.
Nick Foligno engaged Perry in a fight after Tavares was stretchered off, no doubt in part because the Montreal Canadiens agitator has earned no benefit of the doubt from opponents. The Leafs were “shook up,” Wayne Simmonds told Kyle Bukauskas during an interview after the first period, and they all came off the bench as a sign of support for Tavares while he was wheeled off the ice.
Tavares responded by giving a thumbs-up before being transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. The Canadiens took the unusual step of releasing a statement expressing their concern and support for him during the first intermission.
The scene was eerily reminiscent of one involving Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin in the bubble last August — except that happened in the final minutes of a game, not with two and a half periods still to play.
Montreal dictated play immediately after the scary Tavares incident, seeing Josh Anderson make it 1-0 with a goal scored in transition.
“We need to take this time to regroup in the dressing room,” Simmonds told Bukauskas.
With a shortened bench, Sheldon Keefe leaned even more heavily on stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner and they started tilting the possession game in Toronto’s favour. William Nylander tied it 1-1 at 4:28 of the second period by depositing a rebound behind Carey Price, but it quickly became clear goals were going to be tough to come by against a goaltender who had immediately found his playoff form after a monthlong injury layoff.
Matthews, the league’s most lethal goal-scorer, fired seven shots stopped by Price and rang one off his post. Marner couldn’t bury an eye-popping 2-on-1 chance.
The tension grew in the third period as the Leafs took two delay of game penalties, killing both, before the game swung on a Toronto power play when Paul Byron got behind a tired Rasmus Sandin and chipped the puck over Jack Campbell with seven minutes to play in regulation.
Toronto earned one more power play before the final buzzer, but their struggles there carried over from the regular season. They were 0-for-5 on the night.
It all added up to a heartbreaking 2-1 loss for the Leafs in Game 1 — with the status of Tavares’s health much more important than what it means for the series.
