After a hiatus for over five years the Coach’s Challenge series has returned. The project that was a returning feature in the early days of the podcast series here at Eyes On The Prize, and the favourite show of Patrik Bexell, gets back into the fold. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to talk to more coaches through out the season – and beyond.
In Europe, Dan Tangnes is a very well respected name. He succeeded in bringing Rögle up to the SHL in 2012, even though they were relegated in 2013 (Rö...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens News and Notes
Nick Suzuki’s best skill has always been his understanding of the game. [ TVA Sports ]
Suzuki is one of the players not currently named to Team Canada whose performances have been the most impressive. [ The Athletic ]
It is early days yet, but based on the current standings, it looks like Montreal is one of a number of teams leading what appears to a changing of the guard. [ Radio-Canada ]
Kirby Dach has been through a lot, and it is not ...
3 months ago
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As players were entering the 2025 PWHL Draft, it looked like the Montreal Victoire were entering the season with the same leadership core they had for their first two seasons. Expansion took a toll on all six existing teams, but Montreal was able to keep their three foundational players (Ann-Renée Desbiens, Marie-Philip Poulin, and Laura Stacey) plus the rest of their original leadership group of Kristin O’Neill, Kati Tabin, and Erin Ambrose.
By the end of the night, O’Neill was traded to...
3 months ago
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Following a statement win on Friday night over the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Laval Rocket hopped on the bus and moved down the 401 into a snowy Belleville for a meeting with the Senators. With the top of the AHL’s North Division separated by all of three points, the Rocket would need to keep their winning ways intact to keep up with Rochester and Syracuse.
Coming off their win on Friday, Pascal Vincent opted for only one lineup change and as expected it was in net. The veteran Kaapo Kähköne...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook are realizing the potential Kent Hughes saw in them when they were acquired. [ La Presse ]
Montreal’s hot start has a player leading all NHLers (Cole Caufield) and rookies (Oliver Kapanen) in goals. [ TVA Sports ]
Kapanen is not surprised by his production given the quality of his teammates and the speed they play the game with. [ RDS ]
We saw the Canadiens figure out how to play with a lead in real time this w...
3 months ago
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Third period leads have been somewhat of a problem for the Montreal Canadiens this season, as evidenced by the amount of times they’ve held one, and still ended up in overtime. That didn’t happen against the Utah Mammoth on Saturday night, as the Habs put up three goals in the final frame, building on their one-goal lead and finishing the game with a 6-2 regulation win.
Two of their six goals on the night were scored by none other than Cole Caufield, who is possibly the hottest player in ...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Kirby Dach says the team’s taste of the playoffs inspired all the young players to have a good start to the season so they can take the next step. [ Sportsnet ]
Martin St-Louis says he needs to learn how to deploy a lineup as deep as the one he currently has. [ Radio-Canada ]
Nick Suzuki says he lets the adrenaline take over whenever he’s dealing with an injury, feeling it’s his duty to play every game he can. [ TVA Sports ]
The players c...
3 months ago
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First period
Kirby Dach gets to take the opening faceoff, a nice reward for his recent play.
The top line is forced to play some defence as a pass goes awry and catches them all behind the play.
Samuel Montembeault sees the first shot sent his way blocked in front, but then doesn’t adjust properly for the rebound on a puck that was sitting right in front of him. Kailer Yamamoto opens the scoring.
Josh Anderson makes a nice play by driving down the wall to attract some pre...
3 months ago
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Game 15: Montreal Canadiens vs. Utah Mammoth
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French) In the Mammoth region: Utah16 Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
Back at home for four games over the next eight days, the Canadiens have turned to Samuel Montembeault for the start. His last outing at the Bell Centre started poorly, with a goal on the first shot of the game and two more in the minutes that followed, but he had a strong reco...
3 months ago
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Game 15: Montreal Canadiens vs. Utah Mammoth
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In Canada: CityTV, Sportsnet East (English), TVA Sports (French) In the Mammoth region: Utah16 Streaming: ESPN+, Sportsnet+
The Canadiens once again showed good fight to recover from falling behind in a game on Thursday, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the third period. They also did one of their best jobs of the season at protecting that lead they took with nine-and-a-half minutes to play,...
3 months ago
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The Laval Rocket had spent much of the last week resting up at home following a strong win last Saturday over the Rochester Americans. Their win left them with a 6-4-0 record, good for third in the highly competitive AHL North Division, trailing both Rochester and Syracuse. The team wasn’t idle during their break however, with Wyatte Wylie being released from his deal and the team opting to sign Josiah Didier to an AHL contract in his place. That deal means of course that Didier has now suited...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Jakub Dobeš was very emotional following his first loss of the season on Thursday, but his coach and his teammates had his back. [ TVA Sports ]
The Canadiens hold steady at sixth in the power rankings. [ The Athletic ]
Six players to watch on the Utah Mammoth roster tonight. [ La Presse ]
Alexander Zharovsky was named player of the game in his match with the Russian under-20 team. [ RDS ]
Danièle Sauvageau was shocked when, after wat...
3 months ago
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Thursday night saw yet another overtime game for the Montreal Canadiens, succumbing this time to the New Jersey Devils 4-3 and remaining unbeaten in regulation through their last five games. It was a tight contest, with perhaps a few missed opportunities to secure the second point in the standings, but they remain among the best teams in the Eastern Conference in part due to picking up these spare points by getting to overtime.
The standings are certainly encouraging, and more so are the ...
3 months ago
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When Kaiden Guhle broke into the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens back in 2022, he was immediately thrust into a situation that was not conducive to success for a rookie defenceman in the NHL. Newly acquired Mike Matheson missed the a good chunk of the opening of the season, as did Joel Edmundson, leaving Martin St-Louis’s defence core with veterans David Savard and Chris Wideman, sophomore Jonathan Kovacevic, and a group of rookies including Guhle himself.
Fully in a rebuild after finishi...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Noah Dobson’s path to the Canadiens began in Austria at age 15. [ Montreal Gazette ]
Inside Ivan Demidov’s hockey brain and how it’s helped him excel as an NHL rookie. [ The Athletic ]
Demidov should not be compared to Alexei Kovalev — the rookie is a wholly different player. [ Journal de Montreal ]
The potential future landscape for the Canadiens at centre. [ La Presse ]
Danièle Sauvageau, a visionary at heart. [ La Presse ]
Ja...
3 months ago
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First period
Josh Anderson skates the puck down the wing with Joe Veleno heading to the net, but no pass comes, and that line continues to accomplish very little on the ice.
Cody Glass opens the scoring after Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen collided at the Montreal blue line, giving him space to enter the zone and get an off-wing shot on goal.
The Canadiens keep the shooting percentage perfect in this game as Kirby Dach has a shot from Noah Dobson flip up off of him high in th...
3 months ago
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Game 14: Montreal Canadiens @ New Jersey Devils
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French) In the Devils region: MSGSN Streaming: ESPN+, TSN+
The NHL probably didn’t think much of a Thursday-night game in November between the Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils when it put the schedule together, but with almost one-fifth of the season played, it will be a battle for top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens hold a 9-3-...
3 months ago
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Game 14: Montreal Canadiens @ New Jersey Devils
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French) In the Devils region: MSGSN Streaming: ESPN+, TSN+
All good things must come to an end, although the Canadiens probably would have hoped for a more memorable event than what transpired on Tuesday night.
Facing the possibility of a five-game winning streak, les Habitants played what has been described as their worst game of the season, yi...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Alex Newhook is starting to realize his potential thanks to high confidence and consistency. [ Sportsnet ]
With 74 assists in 97 games, Lane Hutson is now ranked third among the best defencemen in history. [ Journal de Montreal ]
If Ivan Demidov keeps up his pace, he could shatter a Canadiens’ record that has stood for 40 years. [ TVA Sports ]
Zachary Bolduc didn’t appreciate the Bell Centre crowd sarcastically applauding Sam Montemb...
3 months ago
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Tuesday night saw the first matchup between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers this season, and it couldn’t have gone any worse for the home side in the opening minutes. Digging themselves a deep three-goal hole inside of the first 10 minutes, they had to fight their way back into the game during the second period, despite playing some of their roughest-looking hockey at even strength.
Thanks to the Habs’ young skill players, and some timely power play goals, they were able to...
3 months ago
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All stats are taken on the morning of the 4th of November, hence stats might have changed as games was played on the fourth of November in some leagues.
Bogdan Konyushkov
Torpedo Nihzny Novgorod (KHL) | Russia
#Habs Bogdan Konyushkov scores his first goal of the season on the 26th of October against Avtomobilist. I really like how he corrals that puck with his skate before picking the corner to shoot in. pic.twitter.com/hBxGFU1LuU — Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) November 4, ...
3 months ago
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Montreal Canadiens news and notes
Alexander Zharovsky is an “artist,” according to a teammate. [ RDS ]
How Mike Matheson became the biggest winner of the Noah Dobson trade. [ A Winning Habit ]
Martin St-Louis keeps faith in Samuel Montembeault. [ Montreal Gazette ]
A look at three stellar rookies for the Canadiens so far this season. [ Last Word on Sports ]
How does Alex Newhook stack up against your typical 31st and 37th picks? [ La Presse ]
A small lineup adju...
3 months ago
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Garrett Rank is officiating this game, so brace accordingly.
First period
Despite Montreal spending the opening two shifts in the offensive zone, the first shot of the game goes to the Flyers, and a tip in the high slot from Bobby Brink gets past Samuel Montembeault.
Montreal attempts to do something similar with a pass off Alex Newhook’s stick, but the puck goes off the post.
He did that in the last game as well, so we’ll see what his final word is this evening.
M...
3 months ago
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Game 13: Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French) In the Flyers region: NBCSP Streaming: ESPN+, TSN+
It wasn’t the type of performance from Samuel Montembeault on Saturday night that put an end to concerns about his play this season, but it was the first time in four starts that he allowed fewer than four goals, and it did come with a win, and those were at least signs of progress. Now, ...
3 months ago
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We were a little late getting to the podcast version this month, but myself and Patrik Bexell got together to discuss EOTP’s selections for the players of the month in the Montreal Canadiens system.
Starting at the top, we have Cole Caufield. While this easily could have gone to his linemate Nick Suzuki, or his goaltender Jakub Dobes, there was no denying the brilliance of Caufield in October. We feel that the mere fact Suzuki can be in the top five for NHL scoring and still have another ...
3 months ago
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