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Pre-Scout: Canadiens blunder leads in OT loss, quick flip back home to face Oilers
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Photo credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Michael Menzies
Dec 14, 2025, 11:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 14, 2025, 11:27 EST
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Ouch. 
The Montreal Canadiens looked like they were taking the dog for a walk early on against the New York Rangers. Ahead 3-0 and cruising…and then bad stuff happened. 
Before you knew, the Rangers were only down one at the intermission.
The Habs restored the lead to 4-2 but then gagged that away, as well, and after a fairly soft slashing call on Jake Evans in overtime, JT Miller released a missile for the 5-4 powerplay winner. 
Two blown leads didn’t sit well on Broadway for the Habs, in the mushiest of middles in the Eastern Conference, a point they could’ve used. 
“I think we’re at another stage. I expect way more from this group and for some reason we’re not getting it consistently,” head coach Martin St. Louis said post-game. 
“The urgency is up and down. In this league, it’s too hard. Especially when you put yourself in a good spot in the first period, you’ve got to keep that urgency level up.”

Learning curve

Can the Montreal Canadiens make the jump from a team capable of making the playoffs to a bonafide playoff team? 
That sounds like I’m saying the same thing, but in reality, last year required a Herculean effort down the stretch to sneak into a wildcard spot. The difference is, now there are expectations. 
Can they elevate to a team that if you missed the playoffs, the league would be surprised? 
The Canadiens are still neophytes, and their biggest learning curve right now is how to defend as a team, so that last year’s miraculous run after the Four Nations to the playoffs wasn’t an aberration. 
After beating the Utah Mammoth on Nov. 8, the Habs were 10-3-2. Since then? 6-8-2. 
Lately, it’s been a win two, lose two type of run. 

Fowler takes net

Jakub Dobes and Sam Montembeault have fallen off a cliff. 
Since starting the year 6-0, Dobes has surrendered three or more goals in eight out of 11 starts. After seizing the net from Montembeault, he was pulled on Tuesday after surrendering three goals against Tampa Bay. His save percentage has cratered. 
Meanwhile, Montembeault has sunk to near unplayable levels with a .857 save percentage (just above Calvin Pickard, who is pegged to start this evening). He is now off-the-radar for Team Canada after flirting with consideration. 
With other injuries, Montreal called up a few players to plug holes, including netminder Jacob Fowler, who they dub as their goalie of the future. 
He has stepped in and started two in a row, going 1-0-1. Head coach Martin St. Louis was quick to say Fowler is not being called up to be a “saviour” but it’s clear they need help in this area. 
It would be a shock if Fowler started against Edmonton for a third game in four days, but stranger things have happened. 

Team defence

But as we know in Edmonton, you can’t just lump everything to goaltending. The Habs have surrendered the second most goals against in the NHL with 112. That’s a reflection of the team.
They are a mistake prone group. 
The addition of Noah Dobson was supposed to help bolster the Habs blue line. It hasn’t quite worked that way. Montreal is routinely getting outchanced when he’s on the ice. 
Mike Matheson just re-signed to a 5-year, $30 million deal, but questions loom about his defensive prowess. Alex Carrier is -13.
Lane Hutson is still tremendous and more good than bad is happening when he’s out on the ice. He has yet to take a penalty yet, either. 

Suzuki leads the way

Despite some corners of the belle province campaigning for Nick Suzuki on Team Canada, it does seem unlikely. 
Every season Suzuki has improved points-wise, a career high 89 a year ago, and is on a similar pace. His goal-scoring touch has betrayed him a bit though with just eight goals, but his play both ways is top-flight. 
After Cole Caufield’s 17 goals, which is part of a logjam tie for top-10 in the NHL, only Oliver Kapanen had double-digit tallies. Kapanen continues to be useful on the Habs second line, alongside wunderkind Alex Demidov. 
Kapanen had a chance to win the game in OT on a breakaway, but missed the net by so much, the puck hit the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Centre.  
Arber Xhekaj scored first of the season after being a surprise healthy scratch Thursday against Pittsburgh. His physicality and disruptiveness of the game overall does seem down, though. 

Notes:

  • The Canadiens rolled the dice on Alex Texier, who got out of his contract in St. Louis to become available. He has four points in nine games, and points in back-to-back. 
  • Martin St. Louis likes Joe Veleno. Why? I really don’t know. He played 15:51 last night, the fourth most amongst forwards, and more than Demidov and Slafkovsky. He has 1-1–2 in 26GP and is -10. 
  • Habs have a 10-5 record vs the Western Conference this year. 
  • Habs record in back-to-backs: 2-3. 
  • I had to grab this. Sidney Crosby played in the NHL debuts of Carey Price and Jacob Fowler on Thursday a whole 18 years apart. 
  • Hutson became the fourth-fastest blueliner in NHL history to have 20 multi-assist games. It took the Calder Trophy winner 115 games, behind Mark Howe (91 games), Chris Chelios (109) and Stefan Persson (109). 
  • He also passed Henri Richard for most multi-assist games at age 21 or younger in Canadiens history. 
  • There was another obscure Habs franchise stat I saw a week ago. Ivan Demidov became the second fastest teenager to score 20 points in MTL history. He did it in 26 games, Stephane Richer needed just 19. 
  • The Oilers won a 6-5 thriller on Oct. 23 amidst goals and penalty controversy. Montembeault shutout the Oilers the last time they played at the Bell Center on Nov. 18, 2024. Otherwise, EDM are 3-2 their last five in Montreal. 

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