The Montreal Canadiens were hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre tonight and Martin St-Louis' men were ruthless, at the start of the game in any case.

This is the season to believe that everyone is capable of putting the Maple Leafs over the top. The Leafs might just be Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin away from contending for the Stanley Cup.

The Toronto Maple Leafs scored seven unanswered goals to overcome a ... Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine, and Josh Anderson scored forst-period goals for Montreal. Sam Montembeault finished with 27 saves. Montreal struck first on Dach's goal at 5:08.

MONTREAL — The Toronto Maple Leafs scored seven unanswered goals to overcome ... Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine, and Josh Anderson scored for Montreal (28-16-2). Montreal dominated the opening period of the game and struck first on a Kirby Dach goal at 5: ...

The Montreal Canadiens recalled defenceman Jayden Struble on Wednesday. Struble, 23, has two goals and five points in 26 games with the Canadiens this season. He is without a point in two games with the AHL's Laval Rocket.

It was a tale of two games on Saturday night, as the Toronto Maple Leafs scored seven unanswered goals for a 7-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.

MONTREAL -- Auston Matthews scored one of seven straight goals by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a come-from-behind 7-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson tallied a goal and two assists and Joseph Woll made 33 saves for Toronto, which won its second straight game after a three-game losing streak. Bobby McCann had a goal and an assist, and Nicholas Robertson, William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Steven Lorentz and David Kampf all scored a goal apiece.

MONTREAL — The Toronto Maple Leafs scored seven unanswered ... Kirby Dach, Patrik Laine, and Josh Anderson scored forst-period goals for Montreal. Sam Montembeault finished with 27 saves.

A rebuild in the NHL can be a grueling process. With the patience needed to develop prospects, and decide whether to add or subtract to the team and what each offseason has to offer, there aren’t many situations for a team to be in that are more stressful than this.

As Bissonnette explained on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs should pursue the signing of new Carolina Hurricanes forward Mikko Rantanen if he gets to free agency and Toronto lets Mitch Marner walk.

The hot streak comes at at perfect time for Matthews and the United States. The center, who grew up in Arizona, will join Team United States for the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20 and begin play against Team Finland at Bell Centre on Feb. 13 (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).