There’s never a dull moment in a Montreal Canadiens game these days, and that’s been especially true in the last two games. Facing the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, Martin St-Louis’ men mounted a comeback but fell in the shootout. On Tuesday, against the Florida Panthers, they played it safe and sealed the win in overtime. While the win was crucial for the standings, it was even more critical for goaltender Samuel Montembeault, who was playing his first game in the NHL since his conditioning stint with the Laval Rocket in the AHL.
The game was scoreless through 50 minutes, but things escalated quickly after Brad Marchand gave the hosts a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal. Sam Reinhart then doubled the lead, and some thought that was game over for the Habs, but it wasn’t, far from it. Cole Caufield got one back before Nick Suzuki tied up the score with less than two minutes to go in the game, before scoring the game-winning goal in overtime.
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Montembeault Showed What He’s Made Of
It’s been tough for Montembeault this season. It’s never easy for a professional to hear his team would like him to go down to the AHL for a conditioning stint, but he went, and he came back with a big performance. With 28 saves on 30 shots, the netminder finished the night with a .933 save percentage and allowed the Canadiens to leave the Sunshine State with three points out of a possible four.
The masked man played well in the first frame, stopping the nine shots he faced. He was in control, tracking the puck well. Shots from distance were neutralized, and he was positionally sound, controlling the rebounds as well.
The start of the second frame might have been a bit more difficult for the Becancour native; he wasn’t swamped, and he got his first shot seven minutes into the frame. Still, he stayed focused and was ready when the shots finally came. Even when he got a shot in the mask, which made one of the straps come loose, he didn’t lose his cool and grabbed the puck in mid-air to neutralize the threat.
Brad Marchand, who was honoured before the game for his 1,000-point, scored the first goal of the game when there was heavy traffic in front of the goalie, who couldn’t be blamed for the play. However, that wasn’t the case on the second goal, which got by him near side right over the shoulder; it was a shot that he should have had, but he didn’t let that rattle him. He moved on and kept his mind to the task at hand, stopping the two shots he faced after that.
The Dynamic Duo Got Out Of Its Slump
Caufield and Suzuki have struggled a bit since Juraj Slafkovsky was taken off their line, but on Tuesday night, with five minutes left in the game, they rose to the challenge. Caufield scored the Habs’ first of the game just over 30 seconds after the goal that could have been a gut punch was conceded. Too often this season, when questionable goals were given, it took the wind straight out of the team’s sail, but not this time.
The urgency was evident in the Canadiens’ play, and they kept the pedal to the metal as the clock ran down. It was Caufield’s forecheck that allowed the Habs to recover the puck, and Ivan Demidov wasted no time feeding it to the captain, who fired one past Daniil Tarasov.
What’s more, after Marchand was given a two-minute penalty for roughing after hitting Mike Matheson in the head with his elbow, the group rolled up its sleeves and dominated puck possession. They didn’t take many shots as they were once more looking for the perfect play, but it didn’t matter in the end since they found it when Noah Dobson faked a shot, passed the puck to Lane Hutson, who fed it to Suzuki all alone on the doorstep, and he only had to put it in the wide-open net.
The recipe to win is simple: your best players have to be your best players, and tonight, they were.
Hutson Improves His Own Record
With two assists in the game, Hutson brought his total to 74 in 2025, improving on the record he set himself last game for most assists in a calendar year for a blueliner with the franchise.
Say what you will about his size, but the young defenseman plays like a man possessed on the ice. He’s like a dog with a bone; if you take it off him, he will come back with a vengeance and get it back from you.
His mobility and creativity are so crucial for this team as well. During the overtime power play, St-Louis elected to send out Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, and Demidov, and it felt like something was missing. It was too static; the play is fluid when Hutson is there to quarterback the man advantage, which is absolutely priceless.
The Canadiens took off for Raleigh after the game, where they’ll take on the Carolina Hurricanes on New Year’s Day, the fifth game of a seven-game road trip. So far, they’ve had at least a point in each of the first four games; they’re 2-0-2, and they’ll try hard to improve that record.
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