Toronto was back on home ice on Oct. 6, 2026, for its first game against a Western Conference opponent before a three-game road trip in Vegas, and the matchup carried an extra layer because Colton Sissons was trying to beat his former club for the first time.
The Nashville forward spent 11 seasons with the Predators and went 0-2-0 against them last season while with the Vegas Golden Knights, which made this meeting more than another early-season date on the calendar. For Toronto, it was the kind of game that can set the tone before the trip ahead, and for Sissons it was a chance to finally turn an old matchup into a result he had not yet found.
There was already some momentum in the room. Morgan Rielly entered the night on a three-game point streak, with one assist in each of Toronto’s first three games, while William Nylander had reached a personal milestone earlier by setting up Auston Matthews’ first goal of the season for his 400th career NHL assist. John Tavares also skated in his 600th career game as a Maple Leaf, becoming the 26th player in franchise history to reach that mark.
The game also sat inside a busy night for viewers. TSN was listed as the TV channel and TSN 1050 as the radio broadcast, giving fans a straight path to follow a meeting that mattered both for the standings rhythm and for the individual storylines tied to it. Toronto’s first look at a Western Conference opponent was not just about the opponent across from it; it was about whether the club could carry its start into the next stretch without losing pace.
That is what made the night matter before a puck was dropped. After the home date, Toronto was set to begin its three-game road trip in Vegas, and the answer to this one would shape how the club carried itself into the trip. For Sissons, the question was narrower and more personal: whether a player who spent 11 seasons in Nashville could finally leave this matchup with a win against the team that defined so much of his career.
