Canadiens Postgame
Habs Highlights: A California Nightmare

The Montreal Canadiens kicked off their annual West Coast trip with a matinée meeting against the rebuilding Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
It’s never an easy stretch, but if the Habs want to cling onto hope they can qualify for a playoff spot, winning games against teams such as the Ducks or the San Jose Sharks is essential. The Canadiens erred on the side of caution by recalling Owen Beck and Logan Mailloux from the AHL, but neither prospect took to the ice for the pregame warm-up.
Montreal started the match-up on the right foot, per the predictions of the Canadian sportsbooks, but things quickly fell apart, leading to three consecutive goals for the Ducks and, consequently, a 3-2 loss for Martin St-Louis’ team.
Special Teams Shine
As per tradition, the first line has been doing most of the heavy lifting in recent games.
To be more accurate, the first line is the only trio that is semi-functional at the moment, and as we all know, when a team only has one line going they’re very easy to shut down.
The issue wasn’t completely resolved on Sunday, but the special teams did their part, starting with Joel Armia’s ninth goal of the season. Full marks to Jake Evans for his hard work in transition, not to mention his perfectly weighted pass.
Jake Evans finds Joel Armia in front for a short-handed tally!
That’s Evans’ fifth short-handed point this season. pic.twitter.com/Ti2D5H1Im8
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 2, 2025
Happy Birthday
The first powerplay unit was far from impressive, but the second unit picked up the slack, as evidenced by Christian Dvorak’s fifth goal of the year with a little over five minutes left in the first period.
The goal allowed the Canadiens to enter the first intermission with a well-deserved 2-0 lead, a nice change of pace from their usual early-game deficits.
BONNE FÊTE BONNE FÊTE
GO DVO, IT’S YA BIRTHDAY#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/hUMKzkvqAe
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 2, 2025
Yin, Yang
While the first period was incredibly encouraging from a process standpoint, the second period was anything but.
The Ducks, the lowest scoring team in the league, held an edge in both shots and high-danger scoring chances. They even managed to score two goals in less than a minute, putting Montreal’s fragile state on full display.
The @AnaheimDucks have tied this game up with two goals in 40 seconds! 🦆 pic.twitter.com/sc1f5xmq4K
— NHL (@NHL) February 2, 2025
Collapse Completed
With the strong first period in the rearview mirror, the Canadiens proceeded to put together two of their worst periods of the year against one of the worst teams in the NHL.
The good news is that Beck and Mailloux were treated to a game that had a slightly higher intensity level than the AHL All-Star Skills Competition.
The bad news is the Habs are back to playing the same low-event games that fans endured earlier in the season.
That’s not to say all hope is lost for the playoffs, but as of now, I’d suggest brushing up on top prospects available at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
🚨 Killer 🚨
We take the lead, 3-2!!!#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/ZkVXSUtiuA
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) February 2, 2025
The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Tuesday. They will face the Sharks in San Jose, with the puck drop scheduled for 10:30 pm ET.
All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.
Ok. That was a winnable game, that the Habs let get away. When is the last time that Montembeault has a save percentage of over .900 in a game in the last 2weeks. We need stellar Goaltending to win and average Goaltending doesn’t result in wins with this Team. So maybe let’s try to ride the other guy for a few games in a row. The Team needs a spark, somewhere because they are simply flat.
Hughes needs to shake this core up a bit, with NHL Talent and not Draft picks. They don’t have to go for a homerun trade, just something significant that will wake a few guys up on this team. They are too complacent and players are falling into that early season spell again. They are great signs for the future, but, Hughes has to get off the fence and do something impactful, that maybe speeds up the Rebuild Process just a little. Winning is contagious, and losing close games continually should not be accepted and eventually becomes habitual!
Everyone forgets, they’re the youngest team in the league! They’re going to have ups and downs!
Let’s NOT be the Sens, Wings or Sabres and make a knee jerk panic move!
There was the same sense of panic at the beginning of the season, then everybody was excited for the playoffs and now back to panic mode!
Youngest team!
Next year they might be even younger if all the free agents leave and are replaced by younger players.
Well said. They don’t need a “home run” trade, but a bit of a shake-up is in order. And your comment about Montembeault is valid. I have maintained that Monty is our starter, and Dobes the back-up, but Dobes is outplaying Monty, so a sting of several games by Dobes might be in order.
I think the biggest story of the game was Laine being benched for the 3rd period. What’s going on there?
He. Has not produced, slow to react, coughs up puck… If we are out by tdl… He might be good bait…
I agree that he’s been underwhelming lately, but so have A LOT of other guys. When you consider how we’ve had to treat him somewhat with kid gloves in order to ensure he got off to a good start and got his head in the right spot, a benching seems out of place (especially when so many guys have been bad).
It was the whole 2nd line. Where was Dach?
I saw Newhook on a line with Evans and Armia
Yep. Dach had the 3rd least TOI behind Pezzetta and Laine. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in San Jose.
Laine 5×5 does nothing and is a liability when he’s on the ice. demidov will take his place. Unless they trade him they have him for 1 more yr
Demidov may take Laine’s place. He may take Slaf’s place. That is not the point. The point is that currently, Laine is not playing with elite line-mates. IMO, better line-mates would produce better results.
In the 2017 All Star game fastest skater competition Patrick Laine did very well in a time of 13.42. Connor McDavid was the winner in 13.02 seconds. According to NHL Edge in the 2002-2023 season his top speed was 22.56 MPH. This year his top speed has been 21.54 mph. 21.54 MPH is quite good but most of the time he is not skating at full speed. My own top speed is probably about 3 MPH.
show off!!