10 Thoughts: Habs Shoot and Score in 6-3 Win

After an excellent road trip to start the 2026 calendar year, the Habs were trying to quickly forget Saturday’s effort against the Wings and cap off what ended up being a 3-1 home stand as they hosted the basement-dwelling Vancouver Canucks for a rare Monday home game. The win meant more good vibes heading into another three-game road excursion. This was a strong game from the Canadiens who controlled the pace of play for most of the night which was important considering a quick turnaround with a game in Washington on Tuesday night. In the end, it was a 6-3 win thanks to a strong third period.

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Alexandre Texier
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Zachary Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Samuel Blais – Joe Veleno — Owen Beck

Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson                                                                      Lane Hutson – Alexandre Carrier
Kaiden Guhle – Arber Xhekaj

Jakub Dobes

10 Thoughts

1) Stop me if you’ve heard this before but a young unsung goaltender nearly came into the Bell Centre and stole a game. The story through the first 40 minutes of play was without a doubt Nikita Tolopilo as the Habs handily outshot the Canucks by a 27-14 margin. He made excellent saves on Kapanen twice, Guhle, and Caufield, amongst others.

2) The Canadiens were all over the Canucks in the opening period as Vancouver was simply not able to match Montreal’s speed of execution. This included a continuation of Xhekaj’s Saturday performance as he was flying up and down, making strong passes, and even went for one rush. It included two big hits by Xhekaj who led the way to a very physical period by the Habs as he was joined by Guhle, Blais, and Matheson in finishing their checks with enthusiasm.

3) Despite the 13-6 shot advantage for the Habs in the first, the period ended with a 1-1 score. The Canucks got on the board first following a rather dumb clearing attempt by Slafkovsky up the middle that resulted in an icing call. On the ensuing faceoff, the Canucks got the puck to the point where Filip Hronek got a shot through, Dobes gave up a rebound, and Elias Pettersson beat Kapanen to the puck for the early lead. Brock Boeser was then guilty of an offensive zone penalty with two minutes left in the period. The power play made short work of the chance despite a changed look. With Texier and Dobson replacing Demidov and Hutson on PP1, Suzuki won the draw back to Dobson who immediately scored.

4) The scoring came fast and furious in the second period, but the Canucks stayed in the game despite another 14-7 shot advantage period for the home side. If the first period was a continuation for Xhekaj, it ended abruptly in the second as it was a rough period for him. The Canucks scored first, only two minutes into the period, when Arber served up a muffin up the middle of his own zone when trying to clear the zone. Dobes gave up a bad rebound, but the whole play was avoidable with a play up the boards by Xhekaj. The second Vancouver goal came near the end as they fought back to make it 3-3 after two. It started with a failed dump-in by Gallagher. The mistake was compounded when Guhle turned the wrong way, opening space for the offensive player. Xhekaj tried to come over to help his scuffling partner, but that left his guy (Max Sasson) open on the back door and that’s where the puck went to tie the game 3-3.

5) Most of the period was very positive for Montreal, but Tolopilo was strong. He gave up two goals, but those were not on him at all. It was Carrier scoring both goals for the Canadiens. The first came after an excellent Tolopilo stop on a Suzuki and Caufield two-on-one. Suzuki picked up the rebound and found the trailer in Carrier, who buried his goal. 20 seconds later, Demidov made the pass to send Slafkovsky on the offensive. Slafkovsky used his long reach to get around the defender and hit Carrier streaking into the play on the back door as he simply tapped in his second on the shift. Just like that, the Habs were up 3-2, even if the lead did not last.

6) Montreal came out strong in the third as they scored twice in the opening 1:07 of play. On both plays, young Tolopilo looked very much like an AHL call-up. The first came off a layered attack, the calling card of the top line, as Matheson ended up with the goal. 38 seconds later, a full zone cycle started from Slafkovsky to Hutson who quickly went down low to Demidov. Demidov went around the net and returned to Slafkovsky at the faceoff circle who saw Tolopilo being overactive in his crease and firing a shot home on the shot side.

7) The Canadiens made it 6-3 five minutes later when the second line executed what now has to be a set play for them. Slafkovsky won a neutral zone battle and skated into the offensive zone, where he dished to Demidov on the side. Slafkovsky then drove the centre of the ice, attracting defenders. Demidov took advantage of the space created by Slafkovsky to find a streaking Kapanen for a one-timer goal.

8) The Habs took two penalties down the stretch which meant that the shot totals in the third period were only 14-9 for them for a 41-23 lead overall. The Canadiens really were the better team from start to finish on this night; it would have been really disappointing for them to drop this game after the first 40 minutes.

9) One player who has been rather terrible of late who played a much better game was Bolduc. In recent games, he appeared to be pressing for a goal, cheating to the slot, and inadvertently leaving Danault and Gallagher in spots where they needed to win battles with no support. On this night, he was involved, physical, and aggressive on the puck which created scoring chances for all three players on the night. When he plays this way, he gets the chances he’s looking for when he cheats, so here’s hoping the coaching staff can show him video of this and he can apply it with more regularity.

10) Dobes was the netminder for Montreal on this night as the 3-man carousel continued. Dobes’ biggest issue remained his rebound control as two of the goals against were direct results of rebounds that could have been controlled. Two other bad rebounds resulted in extended zone time for the Canucks. Despite this, Dobes’ biggest strengths remain his ability to battle and his unwillingness to give up on a play. He sets himself up for flashy saves, but due to his compete and size, he often makes said save.

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Alexandre Carrier

Carrier was joking after the game that one good shift is all he needed to get the first star. My hope is that he can parlay the good vibes from that shift to get back to the player he was last season. Now, granted, he’s been better of late since being paired with Hutson. But the Habs will eventually want to reunite Guhle with Hutson, and Xhekaj or Struble will need a Carrier that plays like he did tonight by their side instead of the Carrier from a month ago. Plus, isn’t it fun to feature an unsung hero in a prominent offensive spot?

Stats: 2 goals, +3, 3 shots, 20:01 T.O.I.

2nd Star – Ivan Demidov

I gave Demidov the nod over Slafkovsky simply due to the first period. Slafkovsky was guilty of a few ill-advised passes while Demidov looked dangerous. Eventually, Slafkovsky joined the party, and with both of them moving in the right direction, they were too much for the Canucks to handle.

Stats: 3 assists, +3, 3 shots, 14:27 T.O.I.

3rd Star – Juraj Slafkovsky

Another dominant game for the second line. So much of that is Slafkovsky using his size to make plays with the puck, but perhaps even more of it is how he creates space away from the puck. There is no doubt that this is a part of his game that Slafkovsky perfected on the top line, but it’s been so incredibly effective on this line. It’s worth questioning when oppositions will start to stick their top defenders on this line? Hard to do when that means leaving Caufield and Suzuki to feast on a second defensive pairing. So much fun to be a Habs fan right now.

Stats: 1 goal, 2 assists, +2, 1 shot, 1 hit, 14:44 T.O.I.