Montreal Canadiens news and notes
The surging Canadiens roll into the Olympic break on a high note. [ Montreal Gazette | RDS | The Athletic ]
Seven observations about the Habs at the break. [ La Presse ]
Martin St-Louis has the youngest team in the NHL playing a grown-up game. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Jeff Gorton is exploring all possibilities ahead of the NHL trade deadline. [ Sportsnet ]
Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel was not happy at the amount of bleu-blanc-et...
With a three-week layoff for the Olympics looming, the Montreal Canadiens were in Manitoba on Wednesday night to meet the Winnipeg Jets. There was a problem, however, as most of the roster looked to have already checked out for that layoff. The lowly Jets were in full control of the game from the opening puck drop, and the Habs looked flustered for the better part of the first two periods. But they pulled another rabbit out of their hat, finding the scoring they needed to take a 5-1 win that p...
After a long road trip to kick off the new year, the Laval Rocket found themselves back in the friendly confines of Place Bell to kick off five straight games on home ice. With back-to-back wins over the Toronto Marlies and Syracuse Crunch, the Rocket had built some momentum for a meeting with the last-place Utica Comets.
Injuries to Jared Davidson and David Reinbacher continued to loom large, especially with the continued absence of Tobie Bisson as well. Sammy Blais hadn’t made it in tim...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Jacob Fowler is working hard to make his way back between the Canadiens pipes. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Meanwhile, Fowler gives nod to Quebec with special AHL All-Star Game mask. [ TVA Sports ]
Bringing back Philip Danault has become one of the Montreal’s most impactful in-season decisions. [ The Hockey Writers ]
The pressure in Montreal can be intense, and even the Laval Rocket aren’t spared their share of scrutiny. [ The AHL ]
Samuel B...
First period
The Jets have come out with a strong start. Kyle Connor tested Samuel Montembeault 10 seconds in, and the puck has mostly been in Montreal’s zone since.
The second shot Montembeault faces sees the goaltender slide off his angle as the puck comes in, and it just glances off his side and wide.
Josh Anderson goes off for high-sticking (there have been a lot of those calls this season) and the Jets get the first power play. Montembeault is lunging all over the place t...
Game 57: Montreal Canadiens @ Winnipeg Jets
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In Canada: Sportsnet In the Canadiens regions: RDS (French) Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, Sportsnet+
Jakub Dobeš may have had a six-game winning streak come to an end on Monday night in Winnipeg, but he was still able to extend his personal points streak to 10 games as that match went to overtime. Starting the previous four games for the Canadiens, he will begin his Olympic break a bit early to let Samuel Mon...
UPDATE [Wednesday, February 4, 2:15pm Eastern]: Blais has cleared waivers.
With the National Hockey League’s Olympic roster freeze going into effect on Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens have placed forward Samuel Blais on waivers.
Blais has played 13 games for the Canadiens in the NHL with two goals and three assists, but his last game was on January 15. It is fair to assume he wouldn’t have played in the team’s final game before the break on Wednesday in Winnipeg, so he was sta...
Game 57: Montreal Canadiens @ Winnipeg Jets
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In Canada: Sportsnet In the Canadiens regions: RDS (French) Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, Sportsnet+
In the last four games, the Montreal Canadiens have played the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, a Colorado Avalanche club at the peak of the NHL, a Buffalo Sabres team on a serious charge up the standings, and a healthy Minnesota Wild squad that got back to looking like one of the true contenders...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Kirby Dach is giving the Habs what they need in playoff-style games. [ Sportsnet | La Presse ]
The Canadiens did not bring their A-game to Minnesota, but they earned a point a more immature version of them never would have earned. [ The Athletic | RDS ]
Management has provided coach Martin St-Louis with the type of defencemen he needs to play the system he has put in place. [ Montreal Gazette ]
“Every day I’m thinking about what I can do ...
Montreal Canadiens News and Notes
The case for Nick Suzuki getting more Selke votes. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Juraj Slafkovský awarded the Molson Cup for January. [ Canadiens ]
Putting Kirby Dach back on the first line, now that he’s back, worked out. [ La Presse ]
The surprising similarities between Cole Caufield and Mike Matheson, Suzuki’s role on Team Canada, and more. [ The Athletic ]
Matheson gets some of the hardest assignments, not just on the Habs, but in the lea...
First period
Thirty-eight seconds in, Minnesota scores on its first shot as Joel Eriksson Ek sends the puck higher than Jakub Dobeš’s pad but lower than his blocker on a shot off the rush.
Oliver Kapanen immediately goes to the box for hooking Zuccarello, and a hot power play goes to work.
Phillip Danault races onto a puck in the neutral zone and goes in for a shot. It looks like Montreal is going to be aggressive versus this Wild man advantage tonight.
Noah Dobson gets t...
Game 56: Montreal Canadiens @ Minnesota Wild
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST In the Canadiens regions: RDS (French) In the Wild region: FanDuel Sportsnet North/Wisconsin Streaming: Prime Monday Night Hockey
It’s a very different team the Montreal Canadiens will face tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota, not just because almost all of the Wild’s players are now healthy after a handful were kept home for the first game in Montreal, but because they’ve come out of the doldrums they wer...
Game 56: Montreal Canadiens @ Minnesota Wild
Start time: 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST In the Canadiens regions: RDS (French) In the Wild region: FanDuel Sportsnet North/Wisconsin Streaming: Prime Monday Night Hockey
In previewing the recent Montreal Canadiens game against the Colorado Avalanche, it was pointed out how mediocre the leaders of the Central Division were in January. Starting the first month of 2026 with a 5-4-2 record, the Minnesota Wild finished strong with three con...
NHL Player of the Month: Cole Caufield
Cole Caufield wasn’t playing at his usual level in December, outscored by two teammates after only scoring five goals of his own. On January 2, he found out that he hadn’t been named to the U.S. National Men’s Team for the Olympics, and, like Michael Jordan, he took that personally.
Caufield couldn’t be stopped in the first month of 2026, and with more game days than off days to kick off the new year, that resulted in 13 goals through 16 games p...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Mike Matheson has become the defenceman most used versus elite opponents in the entire NHL. [ La Presse ]
No one has been more clutch than Cole Caufield this NHL season. [ TVA Sports ]
Bill Guerin answered questions about his roster makeup for Team USA, speaking about Caufield, Lane Hutson, and others who weren’t named. [ TVA Sports ]
Montreal got quality goaltending and timely penalty-killing to beat the Buffalo Sabres, things that had b...
The Montreal Canadiens played the biggest game of their season to date on Saturday night, visiting the Buffalo Sabres, who entered the game just ahead of the Habs in the standings. A win would not only move Montreal into third place, but close the gap between them and the teams at the very top of the division and conference. They opened the game with a strong first period, taking a one-goal lead with a power play goal, before a disastrous second period saw them enter the final frame trailing b...
The Laval Rocket came into Saturday’s matchup against the rival Toronto Marlies looking to build some momentum. After dropping five of its previous seven games, Laval won a tight matchup against the Syracuse Crunch on Friday, taking a step in the right direction.
The lines were nearly identical to those of Friday. Unfortunately, just one game after returning from injury, Xavier Simoneau drew back out of the lineup again. The ailment is most likely due to the massive impact he had with the...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
The post-game award of the wolf hat is bringing the Canadiens’ pack together. [ Montreal Gazette ]
The Canadiens could use a penalty-killing forward at the trade deadline. [ The Athletic ]
Kaiden Guhle blamed himself for getting into a bad position on the hit from Josh Manson versus Colorado, but said the hit he threw shortly after returning was his way of showing everyone he was okay. [ TVA Sports ]
“He has a lot more skill than I do,” Z...
I would have rather seen Sammy Blais in the lineup than Joe Veleno to make up for the loss of Alexandre Texier, but for whatever reason NHL coaches just don’t seem to trust him.
First period
There’s a whole lot of red in the lower bowl in Buffalo.
The pace is as high as I expected it to be in such a big game. The crowd seems pretty anxious to start however, or maybe they’re just enjoying the tempo.
The players on both teams are little too amped maybe, making passes that...
Game 55: Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French) In the Sabres region: MSG Buffalo Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
The Detroit Red Wings had a rare bad game this afternoon, losing 5-0 to a Colorado Avalanche squad that clearly got tired of losing after its 7-3 defeat in Montreal. That means one of the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres will pull within one point of the Red Wings a...
Game 55: Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French) In the Sabres region: MSG Buffalo Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
It was a weakened Colorado Avalanche team that came to the Bell Centre on Thursday. The Canadiens, who had been guilty of playing down to opponents in recent years, were able to pounce and get out to a quick lead, carrying that all the way to a 7-3 win. It improved their...
Laval came into Friday’s matchup against the Syracuse Crunch looking to get headed back in the right direction. Laval had dropped five of its previous seven games and had averaged less than 2.5 goals per game during the stretch.
With Syracuse sitting just three points behind Laval in the North Division, the Rocket needed to regain some distance in the standings.
The lines stayed fairly consistent from Monday, with the only change to the forward core being Xavier Simoneau’s return. Fl...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
If Juraj Slafkovský and Ivan Demidov continue to develop their chemistry over the next few years, there’s no telling what their offensive contributions could look like. [ TVA Sports ]
Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Lane Hutson are all on pace for career years and developing as a group of stars the like of which the Canadiens haven’t seen in decades. [ RDS ]
Caufield should get consideration for the Hart Trophy. [ TVA Sports ]
Caufield he...
The best team in the National Hockey league, the Québec Nordiques Colorado Avalanche, rolled into the Bell Centre on Thursday night for the final game there before the Olympic break. Keeping pace in the hotly contested Atlantic Division required the Montreal Canadiens to find a way to earn points against a formidable opponent that had routed them 7-2 in their last meeting. As a group, they came together to do precisely that, returning the favour from back in November with a 7-3 rout of their o...
Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Jakub Dobeš’s competitive fire impresses his teammates. [ Montreal Gazette ]
New goalie coach Marco Marciano got his start in Cape Breton. [ CTV News ]
Eric Raymond’s firing shocked Samuel Montembeault. [ Journal de Montreal ]
Laurent Dauphin is perched atop the AHL’s scoring summit. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Is there an opportunity for Montreal to pursue Jesper Wallstedt? [ The Hockey Writers ]
Zachary Bolduc is becoming more of a p...