On Wednesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2025-26 home opener ended in triumph, as Morgan Rielly broke what had been a 2-2 tie with the Montreal Canadiens midway through the third period and two empty net goals iced a 5-2 win. For those who have followed the team over the past decade, it was a familiar sight. Toronto is a perfect 10-0 in home openers over the past 10 years, making victory as much a part of the opening night tradition at Scotiabank Arena as the 48th Highlanders.
Ten years running is hardly a small sample size. In fact, the Maple Leafs have yet to lose their season-opening game at home in the Auston Matthews era. It helps that the club has been a perennial playoff contender over that stretch, as does the fact that they have played many of those games (five, to be exact) against the Canadiens, who are currently on the rise but have struggled for much of the past decade.
Still, the Maple Leafs’ statistical dominance on opening night in recent history is noteworthy. Let’s take a look back at ten years of getting a new season off to a good start:
2016-17: Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 1
With the Maple Leafs returning home after Matthews’ historical four-goal debut in Ottawa, there was plenty of buzz around Scotiabank Arena (then still known as the Air Canada Centre) over what the reigning No. 1 overall pick would do next. As it turned out, it was time for his teammates to shine.
After wasting Matthews’ stellar debut, Toronto made sure it wouldn’t also get embarrassed on home ice, taking a commanding early 3-0 lead and closing out a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins. With Matthews held off the scoresheet, Connor Brown, James van Riemsdyk, Milan Michalek and a young Mitch Marner handled the goal-scoring while Tyler Bozak picked up two assists.
2017-18: Maple Leafs 8, Rangers 5
Offence wasn’t much of an issue for the Maple Leafs in the early stages of the 2017-18 season. After kicking off the campaign by launching a seven-goal assault on the Winnipeg Jets in a 7-2 road win, they gave the goal light operators a workout once again by scoring eight times en route to an 8-5 home win over the New York Rangers.
In what was a wild back-and-forth affair that goaltenders Frederik Andersen and Henrik Lundqvist would probably rather forget, the Maple Leafs notched five first period goals to take a commanding 5-2 lead, only to see New York rally back to tie the game heading into the third period. Much like Wednesday night, however, Toronto scored three unanswered goals in the final frame to secure an emphatic win. Five Maple Leafs recorded two points, headlined by a pair of goals from Zach Hyman.
2018-19: Maple Leafs 3, Canadiens 2 (OT)
Matthews may have been somewhat conspicuous by his quiet play over the first two home openers of his career (he managed just one assist against the Rangers), but that wasn’t the case to start his third NHL season. In a game that also saw John Tavares score in his Maple Leafs debut, Matthews put the Maple Leafs on the scoresheet in the first period and then delivered the overtime winner roughly a minute into the extra frame.
Amidst the arrival of Tavares, this was basically the dream scenario. Toronto’s new superstar centre tandem thrived in the spotlight while delivering a dramatic victory over the rival Canadiens.
2019-20: Maple Leafs 5, Senators 3
The 2019-20 season brought no shortage of setbacks, from a rocky start that would see head coach Mike Babcock fired after 23 games to the impending COVID pandemic to a weird, disappointing Qualifying Round series loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. On opening night, however, everything seemed just fine.
Frederik Gauthier became the unlikely first goal scorer of the season for the Maple Leafs, while Matthews notched another two goals and Tyson Barrie recorded a pair of assists in his first game with Toronto. They would only win one of their next six games, but at least the home opener streak remained intact thanks to a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators.
2020-21: Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 4 (OT)
The “home” part of home opener didn’t carry much meaning to begin the 2020-21 season, as the Maple Leafs and Canadiens played in front of an empty Scotiabank Arena as part of the temporarily renamed North Division during the pandemic. And what a shame, as the rivals produced a highly entertaining showdown for the cardboard cutouts in the stands that produced a 5-4 overtime win for Toronto.
Pulling out the win required plenty of resilience by the Maple Leafs, even without the benefit of fan energy in the building. Montreal took a 3-1 lead in the second period and then went up 4-3 early in the third, but the home side rallied back from both deficits. In overtime, Rielly was the hero as he scored the game-winner despite the Maple Leafs having not led at all up to that point.
2021-22: Maple Leafs 2, Canadiens 1
Fans were back in the building for the 2021-22 home opener and were treated to what was, admittedly, a rather drab affair between Toronto and Montreal. William Nylander scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period while goaltender Jack Campbell stopped 31 of 32 shots to secure the 2-1 win.
Although not the most thrilling of contests, the win offered some indications of what was to come during what remains the most statistically successful regular season in franchise history. Campbell would go on to enjoy a sensational season between the pipes while the Maple Leafs would continue demonstrating their ability to close things out, going 20-3-7 in one-goal games.
2022-23: Maple Leafs 3, Capitals 2
One day after the Canadiens got a measure of early-season revenge by winning a 4-3 season opener in Montreal, the Maple Leafs were back in the friendly confines of Scotiabank Arena and prepared to continue their streak against the Washington Capitals.
Tavares opened the scoring with an early power-play goal, although the Capitals would come out of the first period with a 2-1 lead. Calle Jarnkrok evened the game at 2-2 in his Maple Leafs’ home debut before Matthews, fresh off his first 60-goal campaign, delivered the game-winner in the third period. The victory gave new Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov a win in his first appearance as a Maple Leaf and against his former team.
2023-24: Maple Leafs 6, Canadiens 5 (SO)
At some point, you have to figure that the Canadiens get tired of coming here to start the season. This time around, even two-goal leads at two separate points in the game couldn’t hold up in the face of a Matthews’ hat trick.
Montreal carried a 5-3 lead into the final five minutes of the game. However, Matthews took over with two late goals, including an equalizer with 67 seconds remaining. After overtime failed to solve anything, Marner served up the only goal of the three-round shootout to send Maple Leafs fans home happy.
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2024-25: Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 2
Last season, the Maple Leafs kicked things off with plenty of familiarity. Of course, there was the seemingly annual showdown with the Canadiens – this time resulting in a 1-0 road loss. From there, though, the club quickly got re-acquainted with former head coach Sheldon Keefe in New Jersey (a 4-2 win) and then hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins and GM Kyle Dubas.
As they had done so many times before during the tenures of Keefe and Dubas, Toronto got the job done once again in their home opener, topping Pittsburgh 4-2 to triumph in new head coach Craig Berube’s home debut. Nylander scored two goals (he already has five multi-point home openers in his career), while Marner and Matthew Knies scored to open up what would be career-best seasons for both forwards.
2025-26: Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 2
The Maple Leafs extended their streak of home-opening success to a full 10 years on Wednesday night, thanks to yet another triumph over the Canadiens. Montreal matched the home side and even looked like the better team for much of the first 40 minutes, but Rielly delivered a timely game-winner, and Matthews and Nylander both helped secure the win with empty-net goals.
Even as Berube acknowledged after the game that Toronto had plenty to improve upon from the performance, there were certainly some positives to take away. Matthews, Tavares and Nylander all found the scoresheet in the first game of the post-Marner era, while Anthony Stolarz looked sharp in net and the club got some depth production from Bobby McMann and an unlikely marker from Jarnkrok. The winning continued after the game, as the final innings of the Toronto Blue Jays’ series-clinching victory over the New York Yankees were broadcast on the big screen.
While the Maple Leafs’ seasons of the past decade haven’t exactly ended as fans would have hoped, they’ve certainly started out pretty well. While most would gladly sacrifice a few season-opening wins for more playoff victories, it’s still been a nice boost for the club to start each new campaign off on a strong note in front of their home fans.
