The Montreal Canadiens were tasked with wrapping up their long road trip against one the Western Conference’s top teams the Dallas Stars and found a way to escape with a 4-3 victory.

They finished their extended road trip 3-3-1 and with the way this road trip has gone in years past, they should be ecstatic with the result.

“We’ve been playing some really good hockey over this road trip and it’s nice to get a win going back home,” said captain Nick Suzuki after the game.

The Canadiens weren’t rewarded after a solid effort against the Tampa Bay Lightning, were severely outplayed in the later parts of their game against the Florida Panthers and let a suspect Carolina Hurricanes team playing with an American Hockey League level goaltender off the hook during the first three games out of the holiday break.

“Today, I think we got rewarded even though the end was pretty hectic,” said Juraj Slafkovsky. “That’s hockey and at the end of the day, it matters that we got two points, it doesn’t matter the score or anything.”

Don’t look now… But the Canadiens are only five points out of a playoffs spot nearing the midway point of the season.

Pluses:

• Dominance from Montreal’s top line. They threatened to score on almost every shift and it’s during games like this one where you have to wonder where the Canadiens would be if Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook were healthy to help give the top line a bit of support.
• Juraj Slafkovsky looked great. Only had one assist on the scoresheet but made great plays like the first period back check and the play at the blue line leading the Cole Caufield goal. Most consistent stretch of games for him dating back to when he was put on the top line.
• Happy Birthday Cole Caufield! Goals in three straight games.
• Nick Suzuki… Maybe the best player on the ice?
• Montreal’s defense leads the league with 30-goals after Kaiden Guhle and Jordan Harris found the back of the net
• Rock steady game for Harris who’s trying to show he’s comfortable playing on the right side. The goal aside, it was his best game since returning from injury.
• It was a game Montreal won, so clearly the goaltender was good. While I don’t really understand the decision behind who got which games, they don’t win this one without Sam Montembeault.

Minuses:

• Huge gaffe to start the game. A miscue between Montembeault and Mike Matheson led to a goal by Jamie Benn just 11 seconds into the game.
• The end wasn’t convincing either… They made everyone chew off their finger nails letting a 4-1 lead dwindle down to 4-3 in the dying moments. But they escaped with the two points.
• Josh Anderson took a beating. High stick to the face, blocked shot that had him limping and it concluded with needing to be helped off the ice after getting tangled up with Thomas Harley. He couldn’t put any weight down on his leg and didn’t return to the game. Another injury up front is not what the doctor ordered right now.

Next up for the Canadiens is a matchup against the Buffalo Sabres when they return to the Bell Centre on Thursday night.

The Montreal Canadiens made adjustments after a tough first period and came from behind to earn a single point in the standings with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Montreal has started their dreaded yearly holiday road trip with three of a possible four points against two quality teams.

While the Canadiens are usually matched up with teams that have more talent and skill, they’ve shown that they are relentless, work hard and never give up.

Pluses:

• Two points for Juraj Slafkovsky including a game tying goal late in the third period. He’s no longer just a complimentary player on a line, he’s helping drive play. The Canadiens’ top line was the only one that provided much of anything offensively.
• Another game and another goal for a defensemen. Nice shot by David Savard after some solid work by both Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
• Kaiden Guhle was in beast mode at times. Huge hit on Kirill Kaprizov and he fought Marco Rossi who was trying to stand up for a teammate. He’s not fun to play against now, think of what he might look like in five years.
• Wins are important in the NHL, but if you’re going to lose a game, at least get it to overtime and get a point. The Habs have picked up points in four straight games.

Minuses:

• Terrible first period and start to the game for Montreal. Credit them for adjusting between periods, but it looked like the Wild were going to run a way with the game with ease. It took some poor discipline by Minnesota in the second period to let Montreal back in the game.
• How often do we see a failed offside challenge? Well Martin St Louis took a minor penalty challenging a play that was not overturned… Again, why do we allow challenges for this?
• The line of Brendan Gallagher, Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia was awful. They’re going to need a lot more from those guys as this road trip continued.
• Emil Heineman made his NHL debut, yet we barely got to see him play. Why do the Canadiens have young players on the fourth line playing under 10-minutes a game in a rebuild?
• Another game where you’re left wondering why the officiating in the NHL is so bad.

Next up for the Montreal Canadiens is a matchup with Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in the final game before the Christmas break on Friday night.

The Montreal Canadiens played a game where they looked like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.

“We had so many great moments and then we shoot ourselves in the foot,” said head coach Martin St Louis after the game. “I did like our third period, I thought we corrected ourselves and give ourselves a chance but we had full control of that game and we let them get back in it.”

The Habs got goals from David Savard, Sean Monahan and Jayden Struble. But the star of the show was Sidney Crosby who had a goal and two assists as well as a goal in the shootout.

Pluses:

• David Savard….Boom! He picked off a terrible Erik Karlsson pass and sniped past Nedeljkovic for his first of the season.
• Solid first period where they went into the intermission with a 3-1, a rare occurrence this year.
• Jayden Struble continues to shine… The sample size is small but he’s starting to show his offensive instincts, scoring for the second time in three games. His development is further along than Jordan Harris and Arber Xhekaj.
• Nick Suzuki is a sure thing in the shootout, best player in the league.

Minuses:

• They had control of the game after the terrific start and let the Penguins get back in the game by beating themselves… Playing a full 60-minutes of solid hockey has been a tough ask all season.
• Cole Caufield appears to be getting frustrated and is trying to do a little too much to score. He’s still stuck at seven on the season.
• Josh Anderson has lost all confidence… It’s vital for an athlete to feel good about where their game is at and Anderson looks lost.
• Kaiden Guhle is going through a bit of a rough patch and is over handling the puck.
• 12-rounds of the shootout is way too much. ZZZ.

The Montreal Canadiens don’t play again until Saturday when they host the New York Islanders

The Montreal Canadiens played with desperation and determination in the third period but couldn’t find a game tying goal and lost 2-1 to the Nashville Predators on Sunday night at the Bell Centre.

Both teams were playing the second game of a back to back but battled hard and didn’t show signs of fatigue. It turned into a goaltending battle with Juuse Saros getting the better of Jake Allen.

Special teams also played a big factor in the loss, Nashville got a powerplay goal in the first period while Montreal was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

Pluses:

• Vintage Brendan Gallagher who was disruptive and was a thorn in the side of the Predators. He went crashing into the Saros on a couple of occasions, once resulting in a goal being waived off for goaltender interference. Gallagher mustered up a career high 10-shots on goal.
• Jake Evans finally scored! While it wasn’t played up as much as the Josh Anderson goal-less drought, Evans hadn’t scored since opening night in Toronto. He got a fortunate bounce before putting a backhand past Saros during the second period. The goal gave Montreal life.
• Jake Allen hasn’t been lucky when it comes to wins and losses but he was solid for Montreal and the goaltending in general has been on a run of solid play.
• Dave Savard returned to the lineup, playing in his first game since blocking a shot on October 23rd in Buffalo.
• Great play at 5-on-5 in the first period.

Minuses:

• Busy night for the referees… If the officials go unnoticed, it’s a good night. Well they were front and center all game. And they called an bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct to boot!
• The penalty kill needs some adjustments, it’s not working. There’s no way Colton Sissons should be able to just stroll into the slot and stand in front of the goaltender completely untouched.
• Been a tough couple games for Kaiden Guhle and Justin Baron. Hopefully the return of David Savard can lessen their workload.
• The PP was 0-for-5… “Tonight I feel we lost momentum because our PP didn’t execute,” said head coach Martin St Louis.
• Most of the scoring chances come off the rush, the Canadiens have to find a way to establish more zone time and create chances off the cycle.
• Both teams are in a rebuild and are going through a transition. It feels like like the Predators are miles ahead of the Canadiens however because they have several game breakers like Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi which Montreal does not.

The Montreal Canadiens will have a light schedule this week, their next game is on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre against the Nashville Predators.

The Montreal Canadiens took advantage of a Buffalo Sabres team that is having trouble finding consistency in their game and won a difficult road matchup 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night.

Jayden Struble scored his first NHL goal on a nice give and go tip play from Johnathan Kovacevic in the second period. Moments later, Nick Suzuki scored a powerplay marker, thanks to a solid individual effort.

Credit to the Sabres, even though they were stymied by Cayden Primeau early in the game, they battle back and found a way to tie the game and force overtime.

It was a rather chippy affair and while Buffalo versus Montreal doesn’t jump out as one of the fiercest rivalries, this game featured plenty of bad blood.

Juraj Slafkovsky got the shootout winner scoring on the identical backhand moved that he failed to finish on a couple weeks ago in San Jose.

Pluses:

• Struble got his first NHL goal and it was definitely one to brag about. Beautiful passing play with Kovacevic and a perfect tip past Devon Levi.
• Slafkovsky showed off his angry streak and competitive fire. Nobody wants to see the former first overall pick get into fights on a regular basis, but good on him for not shying away from Connor Clifton when he felt like Clifton had taken a few liberties… And then a nice celebration to put icing on the cake after his winner.
• Primeau was outstanding and had his best game of the season. The Sabres had a ton of scoring chance from in tight early in the game and Primeau was up for the task. He finished with 46-saves.
• Jesse Ylonen shootout specialist? That’s 2-for-2 and he looks confident doing it.

Minuses:

• Another game and another injury, this time it’s Tanner Pearson who leaves with a hand injury.
• Justin Baron was hit from behind right on the numbers by Eric Robinson. Nick Suzuki and others quickly jumped to his defense but moments like this one make it hard not to wonder when Arber Xhekaj will be returning from Laval. And it wasn’t the only incident in the game.
• The start to the game was not strong and if not for Primeau’s heroics Montreal could have easily found themselves playing from behind.
• Brendan Gallagher was fortunate not to be assessed another penalty in the dying moments of a game. There was delayed penalty and Gallagher took two shots at Jeff Skinner who was down on the ice. It could have easily resulted in a 5-on-3 heading into overtime.
• Another game and another goal for Skinner against the Montreal Canadiens. Why can’t they stop this guy?!

Quick turnaround for the Montreal Canadiens already back in action Sunday night at the Bell Centre against the Nashville Predators.

The Montreal Canadiens were suffocated by the Los Angeles Kings losing by a score of 4-0 Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

The game was similar to the one in California where the Kings played their defensive system to perfection and Montreal couldn’t get anything going offensively. Although Montreal did play better than the earlier meeting between the two teams, the final score was identical.

It’s not like the Canadiens are the first team to be blanketed by the Kings, they’ve set the NHL record for road wins to start a season with 11.

Pluses:

• Montreal got out to a terrific start. In the first period they were the better team, had energy and created chances. Unfortunately, they didn’t convert on those chances and were trailing 2-0. “I felt like they were winning after the first, I didn’t feel they were beating us,” said head coach Martin St Louis. “But against L.A, when you’re down 2-0, you got to score the next one and we didn’t do that.”
• Safe to say Juraj Slafkovsky looks like he fits perfectly on the top line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.
• We don’t have to see the LA Kings play against the Canadiens again this season.
• The Canadiens can look to the Kings as a team that went through a rebuild and experienced some similar hardships that Montreal is currently experiencing, but came out of it as a well oiled machine that works in perfect unison.

Minuses:

• The Kaiden Guhle/Justin Baron defensive pairing struggled mightily. They were on the ice for two of the goals against and didn’t look good defending on either of them. The Kings made them look like kids.
• On the fourth Kings’ goal, some bad luck for Baron as he collided with the linesmen leading to the Trevor Moore breakaway.
• Sam Montembeault was average and could have done better on the first goal. Yes, he goes into the minuses when he’s average because they need him to be great to win.
• The goal posts were not kind to the Habs… Sean Monahan and Nick Suzuki were inches away from scoring against the Kings.
• This was another low event hockey game that makes you want to pull out your eyes.

The Montreal Canadiens next match up will be on the road in Buffalo against the Sabres on Saturday night.

It was a good night at the Bell Centre.

Not only did the Montreal Canadiens find a way to beat the struggling Seattle Kraken by a score of 4-2 Monday night, but several players ended significant scoring droughts.

The lines went into a blender again (by necessity) and even if it was for just one night, everything seemed to click.

For the first time in five games, the Habs scored the first goal of the game after both Mike Matheson and Jake Evans forced turnovers. And for a second straight game, even though he was searching for his first goal of the season, Josh Anderson made a solid pass, this time over to Sean Monahan who had a tap-in goal.

The Canadiens would jump out to a 3-0 lead following a Tanner Pearson goal and Monahan’s second of the game. The Kraken pushed back in the second half of the second period and made of a game of it in the third.

But playing with the lead is nice and the Canadiens were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Josh Anderson scored into an empty net. The camera shot of the Canadiens bench was great, every player and coach was celebrating emphatically and it wasn’t because they just secured the game. It was because a popular teammate and player won’t have to answer any more questions about a long scoring outage.

Pluses:

• The start to games was obviously a big talking point inside the locker room before the game. And even though Montreal didn’t come out flying, they began the game with a purpose.
• Sean Monahan scored for the first time in 14 games… And then he scored again.
• Tanner Pearson scored for the first time in 19-games…
• Juraj Slafkovsky looked great on the first line, reunited with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. He was strong along the boards, won puck battles and was confident with the puck. Even though it didn’t show up on the scoresheet, he had a strong game. “I don’t think I need to give Slaf confidence to be honest, I can help him but I don’t think I need to give him confidence,” said head coach Martin St Louis after the game.
• In his first game after signing his new contract with the Canadiens, Sam Montembeault was among the Canadiens’ best players. Nothing seems to faze him.
• Just about every player contributed in some way.
• Special teams were solid and it seems like when Montreal gets a powerplay goal, there’s a good chance they win the game.
• Jake Evans was promoted to the second line and had more ice time than in any game this season.
• In his 700th career game, Brendan Gallagher looked like he turned back the clock.
• Josh Anderson did score again! “That’s why you love playing a team sport, we care a lot about each other in this locker room, I really enjoy playing for this hockey club and everyone is my friend here,” said Anderson.

Minuses:

• They let Seattle crawl back in the game and didn’t lock things down while up 3-0.
• Mike Matheson took a goalie interference penalty on Philipp Grubauer that shouldn’t have been a penalty.

Montreal’s next game will be rematch with the LA Kings at the Bell Centre on Thursday night at 7pm.

Another poor start, led to another loss for the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

The home team couldn’t find inspiration from a pre game ceremony celebrating the Montreal Alouettes’ Grey Cup Championship.

Instead, Detroit jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead forcing Montreal to play catch-up the rest of the night. They showed the willingness to compete while trailing and battled to get a point by sending the game to overtime but constantly surrendering the first goal of the game is not a recipe for success.

To add salt to the womb, Detroit defenseman Jake Walman showed off his best tic-tok dance moves after scoring the overtime winner.

Pluses:

• The crowd gave a nice ovation to the Grey Cup Champion Montreal Alouettes. Hard not to cheer for this group of players that few believed in at the start of the CFL season.
• The coaching staff adjusted to what was happening in the game. Giving Joel Armia the bump to the first line after a solid two periods was the first in game adjustment this season forced by a player who was having a strong game.
• Gustav Lindstrom scored again… And he does it against his former team which must have felt good.
• Scoring from defenseman generally has been Montreal’s strongest attribute. Justin Barron scored late in the first period and has generally picked his spots well.

Minuses:

• The Canadiens allowed the first goal for a fifth straight game.
• The powerplay finally got a goal after an extended period of time without scoring. But they also allowed a shorthanded goal for the fifth time this season.
• Jake Allen’s struggles continue and while he wasn’t terrible, he should have stopped the game winner scored by Walman.
• Walman’s celebration was cringe worthy… Celebrations are fine. This was was just lame. Major fromage.
• Josh Anderson is never going to score again.
• Montreal has to go back to the drawing board in many different areas. And a lot of it comes down to coaching. The injury situation is unfortunate and Montreal is often up against opponents with superior talent. But you have to adjust and find ways to bridge that gap.

Montreal’s next match-up is against the Seattle Kraken on Monday night at the Bell Centre at 7:30pm.

It’s starting to feel a lot like last season.

The Florida Panthers dominated Montreal and blew the game wide open in third period winning 5-1 Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

The Habs created little offensively and it seems like the scoring has dried up. The Panthers looked like a team that went to the Stanley Cup Final last season and Montreal looked like one destined for another season cheering for the draft lottery.

The things that ailed the Canadiens last season are starting to burn them again.

Pluses:

• There has been great emphasis placed on the slow starts for Montreal. They were actually pretty decent in the first period and went chance for chance with the Panthers.
• Another goal for Johnathan Kovacevic. Who would have predicted he’d have four goals on the season and more goals than Josh Anderson, Tanner Pearson and Juraj Slafkovsky a quarter into the campaign.
• The team leads the league in goals from defenseman with 17.
• Josh Anderson got his frustrations out by repeatedly punching Jonah Gadjovich in the head…
• “Josh is back. You saw it; fought angry. Josh is back,” said Martin St Louis after the game.

Minuses:

• Outworked, out-skilled, outscored and dominated by the Panthers in the third period.
• Cayden Primeau’s worst game. His glove hand was picked apart. Nobody knows how long Montreal will roll with three goalies but hopefully it ends soon. Primeau is not currently an NHL caliber goaltender and it’s unlikely he would be claimed on waivers. Even if you does get claimed, it’s not a devastating loss. And if he clears and gets sent down, he can help the Laval Rocket who have had their own problems in goal.
• Another game and another injury. Alex Newhook had to leave the game and it didn’t look good. He crashed into the net and needed to be helped off the ice. It would be surprising if he didn’t miss time.
• Josh Anderson is never going to score again.

The Montreal Canadiens are back at it on Saturday night hosting the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre.