Canadiens Postgame
Habs Highlights: Hellebuyck Stands Tall, Kaiden Guhle Injured

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night, hoping to return to the win column and continue their steady climb up the NHL standings.
Prior to puck drop, the Canadiens made some changes to their defensive pairings, with Alexandre Carrier joining Mike Matheson on the top pairing, while Lane Hutson was slotted alongside Kaiden Guhle on the second pairing. This meant that Matheson was back to playing on his strong side, while Hutson was forced to play on his offside.
The Jets emerged with a 4-1 win, though not for a lack of trying from the Habs.
Let’s dive into the highlights!
Better Start
Unlike previous games, the Canadiens started the game as if they were shot out of a cannon, with veteran Brendan Gallagher leading the charge from an offensive standpoint.
Midway through the first period the Habs held a significant edge in shots, not to mention a 4-0 advantage in high-danger scoring chances at 5v5. The only problem was that Connor Hellebuyck is a hell of a goalie, which meant the game remained tied despite Montreal’s great start.
At the very least, the Habs did not offer their opponents an easy two-goal advantage, which meant they weren’t behind the eight-ball from the very-get go, making life a little easier on everyone in the lineup.
Their hard work paid off shortly thereafter, when a sustained offensive-zone shift led to Juraj Slafkovsky’s eighth goal of the year, assisted by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. We all know hockey is a fickle mistress, and that a strong period without scoring a goal can often lead to a change in momentum in favour of the team that was outplayed. In addition, the Jets are a great team, which suggests you simply can’t afford to have a good period without finding the back of the net, because that would be the ultimate wasted opportunity.
Juraj Slafkovsky opens the scoring for the #GoHabsGo, who have been the best team by a wide margin in the first period vs. the Jets.
Suzuki and Caufield with the assists. pic.twitter.com/Itay8ihu7k
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 29, 2025
The Jets responded just a few minutes later thanks to a strong shift by their top line that featured Gabe Vilardi outworking Alexandre Carrier, and Kyle Connor capitalizing on a loose puck, not to mention the space he created between Mike Matheson and himself, to score his 28th goal of the year.
As previously mentioned, this would have been a much worse situation for the Habs if the Jets entered the first intermission with a 1-0 lead after being outshot by a wide margin, but thanks to Slafkovsky’s goal, it was merely a tied game.
Kyle Connor patiently deposits home the rebound for his 28th goal of the year, 1-1 game!#GoJetsGo pic.twitter.com/MfovLf4ko4
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 29, 2025
No Show
Rather than following up on their solid start, the Canadiens melted away in the second period. If we’re being perfectly honest, it felt like the Jets woke up, and the Habs simply couldn’t match their talent or work ethic. After controlling 58% of the shots in the first, the Habs managed just a 41 percent shot share in the second.
While the second pairing of Guhle and Hutson looked good and produced healthy stats, the top pairing of Matheson and Carrier struggled, especially when it came down to shutting down high-danger scoring chances.
Top line = CHAUDE CHAUDE CHAUDE 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/p92h4tO47G
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) January 29, 2025
From Bad To Worse
If Guhle did not have bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all. The 23-year-old fell awkwardly midway through the second period, which led to his right leg slamming full force into the boards.
Hopefully Guhle can avoid another lengthy injury, but Martin St-Louis’ reaction to the initial diagnosis was far from reassuring.
Martin St-Louis’ reaction to the update on Guhle: https://t.co/gYriuH9X61 pic.twitter.com/scrIYpwLAH
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 29, 2025
Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks
Now that the glow from their strong stretch has started to fade, you can sense the frustration level rising around Montreal. That’s fair, to a certain extent, especially now that we know the Canadiens are capable of playing well against top teams.
But this was always going to be a difficult game for the Canadiens, regardless of how well they played. The Jets are a Stanley Cup contender, whereas the Canadiens are attempting to turn the corner in a rebuild.
Montreal had more high-danger scoring chances at 5v5 (11-9), while also holding an edge in shots, and though that may not bring much solace to some, it’s a sign that the Habs were not blown out of the water against one of the best teams in the NHL, which is encouraging.
The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Thursday. They will face the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET. All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.
In Heineman’s last 8 games before being injured the Habs had 6 wins one loss and one overtime loss. The team scored 27 goals and had 17 goals against. In the last eight games without Heineman the team has 4 wins 3 losses and one overtime loss. In the last eight games they have scored 23 goals and had 29 goals against. It is a small sample size but it seems like they miss Heineman and why did they not call up Davidson or someone else to replace him.
For the record, this post is NOT referring to MHN or this specific article…
However, I gotta say, I hate all the media attention given to “the fans tearing into Matheson” rhetoric today. I don’t read stuff on the toxic social media culture that exists on platforms like X, so I can’t speak to that, but I think it was stupid for the Gazette to write a story about Suzuki standing up for Matheson after his friggin’ girlfriend told him people were being mean online. From that point, every media outlet (including tonight’s broadcast on TSN) brought more attention to it where ALL Canadiens fans were painted with the same brush as a few idiots online. This is why players don’t want to play in Montreal (as well as taxes, weather, construction, etc.). We’re building something great here with the rebuild. To take it to another level, we’ll need Montreal to become a destination where players are going to want to sign as UFAs. Stories like today’s “Matheson getting ripped by fans” in the Gazette undo all the good we’re building here. It’s in the best interest of media to report on things that help paint Montreal in a positive light. The better we look in the eyes of players around the league, the more likely we will be able to sign (and keep our own!) best players. This will build a better team. A better team will win more games (and hopefully a Stanley Cup!) so that’s going to increase interest in the team and readers/viewers. The silliness the was run with today by so many outlets was completely unnecessary. If a story like that is going to be reported on by mainstream media, at least refer to it as the opinion of a few zealots online vs “Canadiens fans”. Better yet, don’t give those yahoos the time of day or validate their opinions by making a mountain out of a mole hill.
I agree. Fans have the right to cheer or boo, but there are lines, some posters are toxic and only know how to tear down and never build up. If an opinion is fact based on results then that’s ok, but if it’s character assassination or personal, that’s not ok
Matheson is so bad that team Canada is considering him to replace pieterangelo. He’s an elite skater and puck mover, and the minute you trade a guy like that coincides with the start of a search for a guy like that.
He’s the one veteran I really urge management to keep as I see him as still effective as we transition into a contender. And what a pro, remember all the articles where he came out about unjustifiably losing pp quarterback responsibilities? No me either.
And yes we need to work a little harder to attract talent, but someone’s been puttin in overtime as we have one of the leagues most talented organizations. You know what attracts talent? Talent. The desire to win isn’t rhetorical, it’s a strong motivator so players will make compromises if it enhances their cup aspirations- so there’s that.
Absolutely. We’ll have players that others will be interested in playing with (although I imagine someone else would have to go for the signed player to have their spot). The only issue is there are lots of teams with talent, and if their cities are in warmer locales, with lower taxes, and far less rabid fans & media, most elite players available are going to opt for that over the microscope here.