Canadiens Postgame
Habs Highlights: Montembeault Shines In Big Comeback Win
The Montreal Canadiens were hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, looking to build yet another impressive winning streak that would propel them further up the standings.
Goaltender Samuel Montembeault was given the nod by head coach Martin St-Louis, a good reminder that the team still considers the 28-year-old goaltender their starter. Besides, there will be plenty of opportunities to give Jakub Dobes more starts down the final stretch of the season. There’s absolutely no rush in his case.
The Lightning held a significant edge in both shots and scoring chances at 5v5, to the tune of a 18-3 advantage in high-danger opportunities, but Montembeault stood tall.
Samuel Montembeault with two more big saves to keep the #GoHabsGo in this game. pic.twitter.com/gIvWUIZmLx
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 22, 2025
In the end, the Habs won 3-2, and there’s a lot to discuss, so let’s dive into the highlights.
Slafkovsky Building Momentum
The Habs started the game with the type lethargic effort that was common throughout the first month of NHL action, but has been rather rare in the last month or so.
Kaiden Guhle struggled to track a bouncing puck, leading to Nikita Kucherov’s opening goal, while Mike Matheson lost a puck battle and Kirby Dach forgot to cover his man when Jake Guentzel gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead early in the second period.
Fortunately, the resiliency we’ve come to expect did surface shortly thereafter, starting with a lucky goal from Juraj Slafkovsky.
Okay, let me rephrase that. He didn’t have a lot to shoot at, and you wouldn’t expect a goal in that situation, especially from a player like Slafkovsky, who traditionally shies away from shooting opportunities. The good news is that he decided to put the puck on net to see if good things would happen, as the saying goes.
The goal marked the first time this season that Slafkovsky has managed to score in back-to-back games, an encouraging sign for a player that probably didn’t deserve all the criticism he received regarding his production earlier in the year. The goal was assisted by Patrik Laine and Lane Hutson.
Juraj Slafkovsky scores with very little to work with, cutting the lead to just 1. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/FLeJ2kHa8Q
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 22, 2025
Fast Response
It took less than two minutes for the Habs to tie things up at 2, with Alex Newhook contributing his ninth goal of the year to the cause. As we all know, Newhook is all about playing at top speed, and though he’s a scoring threat whenever he exploits his tremendous skating, that hasn’t always been the case since his arrival in Montreal.
In recent games, we’ve seen him lean on his greatest strength, and that’s exactly what you want to see from the 23-year-old forward. Full marks to Laine for setting up the goal, his second assist of the game.
Laine finds Newhook less than 2 minutes after the Slafkovsky goal. Newhook picks his spot.
Tie game. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/THs6UTYl4a
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 22, 2025
Evans Rekindles
Thanks to the late push from the Canadiens, not to mention some excellent goaltending from Samuel Montembeault, Jake Evans was in a position to give the Habs a 3-2 lead late in the third period.
We all know he enjoyed a lot of shooting luck earlier in the year, but lately, that has not been the case. The good news for Habs fans is that Evans made no mistake on Tuesday, making his 11th goal of the year crucial. We should also note Joel Armia recorded his 200th NHL point on the play.
Jake Evans with a HUGE goal to give the Habs a 3-2 lead. #GoHabsGo
Armia got his 200th NHL point on the play as well. pic.twitter.com/LCWZVXK5h2
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 22, 2025
The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Thursday, facing the Red Wings in Detroit, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET. All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.
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Well a guess MSL knows best! Monty comes up big! Hutson looks like he could be one for the ages! Evans is a must resign at the right deal. He’s the type special teams player that is very hard the come by.
Hey Marc, can you help me to understand how Montreal had zero high danger scoring chances in the third period according to natural stat trick at 5-v-5 even though Evans scored from what looking like a high danger scoring area? Is that spot where he shot not considered a high danger scoring area?
Looks like he was just barely outside the high-danger area, which lines up with the crosshairs. Though I’d certainly consider it an HD chance, but he’s on the wrong side of the border.
Thanks!
Newhook’s had stretches when he wasn’t scoring much , true . What we can see though with last year , is there’s a direct correlation between his offence and the 2 months he was out of the lineup with a high ankle sprain . Once healthy he finished the last couple of months on a high note .
This season he’s been in a similar situation with his line mates needing time to get over their injuries . The last few weeks , Laine has gotten healthy and Dach is getting back to himself after his knee surgery . Since then there’s been a nice boost for all three players in their 5 on 5 scoring .
Cooper saved his number one goalie for Montreal. Unfortunately, Monty outplayed Vasilevskiy, especially in the 3rd period. And now the Habs are just one point behind the Bolts, who must be feeling their grip on a playoff spot slipping. Soon they will be joining the Bruins, looking up at the teams in the playoffs. How the mighty have fallen.
Evan’s and Armia put on another clinic again tonight. I imagine every Cup contender looking at those two and drooling at adding the pair of them for a run at Lord Stanley’s mug. Tampa is exactly the type of team that would want the both of them. It’s just like their glory days when they had those dominant 3rd and 4th lines. We cannot understate the importance those 2 are having on our present run of success. In the past, we’d take a penalty (or several), allow a PP goal (or several), and get behind the eight ball and dig ourselves a hole too big to get out of. Now, we take a penalty (or several), and Evans and Armia dominate and we actually gain momentum from being down a man. We get back to even strength and score a goal soon afterwards (or even shorthanded). It’s beautiful to watch.
I agree it has been fascinating watching the effectiveness of our pk.. Which by the way includes anderson and dvo… Just don’t want to see it as often as last night
“Kaiden Guhle struggled to track a bouncing puck”. We were sitting about 15 rows in the corner and I wouldn’t say he “struggled” so much as it appeared he was watching his man, skating towards the net and Monty’s left side and the puck came bouncing in behind him and he wasn’t aware of it. Just bad luck