TORONTO - The Montreal Canadiens got a pinball goal to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the season opener.
Tomas Plekanec banked a shot off the foot of rookie Leafs defenceman Stuart Percy with 43 seconds left to give the Canadiens a 4-3 victory Wednesday night at Air Canada Centre.
Plekanec's second goal of the game came not long after Morgan Rielly tied it for Toronto in a back-and-forth game that will be another chapter in the long-standing rivalry between these teams.
P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty also scored for the Habs, who have a handful of new players a season after going to the Eastern Conference final. Goaltender Carey Price finished with 24 saves.
Rielly, Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak had the Leafs' goals. Brandon Kozun, who was making his NHL debut, had the shot that Kadri tipped in for his goal, and Percy, who was also playing his first NHL game, set up Bozak. Jonathan Bernier stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced.
Once the 48th Highlanders of Canada Pipes and Drums were done their annual tradition of playing at the Leafs' home opener, the new introduction video featured a speech by actor Will Arnett and the arena showed off spectacular new on-ice video projections.
