You wouldn’t know it, based on the billing the Montreal Canadiens’ last game, an admittedly hard-fought win over the Ottawa Senators, got ahead of time, but the Habs’ end-of-season schedule truly ramps up next week with two must-win games against the Atlantic Division-rival Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings… two teams actually in playoff spots.
Even so, a truly unique five-set stretch of games, which includes those two games, begins on Saturday, when the Canadiens host the San Jose Sharks, who just beat the visiting Habs a week and a half ago. The same goes for the Anaheim Ducks, who are at the Bell Centre on Sunday to help complete the team’s latest set of back-to-back games.
Related: 10 Stats that Define the Canadiens’ 2025-26 Season at Olympic Break
In fact, each of the team’s next five opponents beat the Canadiens in relatively humiliating fashion the last time they faced each other, meaning there’s a great deal on the line on top of positioning for playoff spots. There’s even more at stake than just pride, too. This is about revenge… or redemption if you prefer to look at the glass as half-full rather than half-petty:
San Jose Sharks (March 14)
As mentioned, first the Canadiens play the Sharks, against whom they lost 7-5 on March 3, on the first leg of the team’s last West Coast road trip. It didn’t go well. The Habs took 1-0 and 2-1 leads, before the Sharks scored four straight. Game over, right?
The Canadiens probably wish as much, because, after scoring three themselves in quick succession in the third period to actually tie the game 5-5, Sharks forward Kiefer Sherwood scored the backbreaking game-winning goal with less than four minutes left. Adam Gaudette added an empty-net goal, Macklin Celebrini assisting for one of his four points on the night.
This was a game that probably gave Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis emotional permission to go right back to Sam Montembeault the next game, with Jakub Dobes putting together one of his worst performances of the season, in allowing six goals on 27 shots.
Keep in mind, on the whole, Dobes has been much more consistent than the former, with Montembeault, at the time, having already had a mediocre performance coming out of the Olympic break (but more on that later). It’s fair to say, St. Louis would soon regret his decision.
Like very soon.
Anaheim Ducks (March 15)
Against the Anaheim Ducks, the next team the Canadiens faced on the West Coast, Montembeault literally gave up one goal seconds into the contest, putting the Habs behind the eight ball. When that goal got called back on an uncalled offside, unsatisfied with the second chance he was being given, Montembeault gave it right back, letting in another at the 39-second mark to Cutter Gauthier. Granted, he had little chance on it, but the sequence definitely set the tone for the contest and his level of play the rest of the way (for the worse).
Despite Nick Suzuki scoring one minute in and the Canadiens soon thereafter taking the lead on a Lane Hutson goal, the Ducks scored three straight to retake it, several of those markers being of the long-range variety that Montembeault should have had. No fear. Facing a 4-2 early-third-period deficit, the Habs went to work, scoring three straight, including two from Cole Caufield, to actually go back up 5-4. Then, with less than a minute left and the extra attacker on the ice, Chris Kreider scored the game-tying goal on a tip-in.
The Ducks eventually took it 2-1 in the shootout.
Boston Bruins (March 17)
Unfortunately, the Canadiens giving up late leads is nothing new, especially with Montembeault in net. At no point was this more evident than on Jan. 24, when, against the Bruins, he gave up the game-tying and game-winning goals within a span of 12 of one another with just over five minutes to go in the game.
The last goal, which Morgan Geekie scored on the power-play, after defenseman Alexandre Carrier took an ill-advised holding penalty off the faceoff following the first, was especially egregious… another long shot that fooled the netminder. And, with that, the Canadiens wasted a Saturday Night hat-trick performance on the part of Caufield, who had given the Habs leads on three separate occasions, en route to eventually breaking Guy Lafleur’s franchise record for most go-ahead goals in a season (a month later).
This game marked the point at which the Canadiens decided to rely on Jakub Dobes heading into the Olympic break. The rookie proceeded to string together impressive victories over the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres. Overall, he went 3-0-1 in the team’s next four games. Clearly, the job was now his, right?
Not so fast. St. Louis played Montembeault in their last game before the Olympics, an admittedly impressive 5-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets, on the goalie’s part. And, just like that, it was as if Montembeault had done no wrong, as the Canadiens continued to go back to the same well, possibly believing the three weeks off between games would do Montembeault some good. Spoiler alert: not so much. Scroll to the end of this list to see how.
Detroit Red Wings (March 19)
This entry is probably the least-dramatic one on the list. It ties back to a game on Jan. 10 in which the Canadiens just plain lost to a better team. With rookie Jacob Fowler in net, the Red Wings broke open a scoreless tie early in the second period and didn’t look back. They beat him three times and added an empty-net goal for good measure to win 4-0.
Nevertheless, there may be even more motivation built up for this specific revenge game than with regard to any other on this list. The Canadiens arguably have more to prove here, even if they earned their own four-goal win over the Wings early in the season (Oct. 9), making the season series all tied up at one apiece. So, this game both represents the rubber match between the two teams and a contest between the Habs and the team directly below them in the standings (at least as things stand right now). It’s also the only road game on this list.
At 36-18-10, the Canadiens have 82 points, good for third place in the Atlantic. At 36-23-7, the Wings are in the first wild-card spot, three points behind, with two extra games played. A win here would give the Habs a seemingly insurmountable lead in the standings… or make things a little too tight for comfort. Put simply, there’s a lot riding on this one.
New York Islanders (March 21)
As alluded to earlier, the Canadiens went right back to Montembeault as their No. 1 after the Olympic break, in a game against the New York Islanders. Defenseman Noah Dobson paced the Canadiens to a 2-0 lead over his former team, in what was beginning to look like a statement game on his part. Then the Habs got into penalty trouble late in the second.
Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer scored one goal on a five-on-three man advantage and one just over a minute later, right after the second penalty had elapsed. While the Islanders successfully erased the two-goal deficit, Caufield put the Canadiens back up on top midway through the third, but, as has become a trend on this list, neither the Habs nor Montembeault would hold on to the lead. Anders Lee deflected in the game-tying goal with just under two minutes left and goalie Ilya Sorokin pulled for the extra attacker. Jean-Gabriel Pageau in overtime, on a breakaway goal you admittedly can’t really blame on Montembeault.
That’s not the point, though. All the above losses have come in a relatively short time span. The fact the Canadiens are as well-off in the standings as they are indicates they’ve gotten at least timely goaltending on some occasions. By and large, it just hasn’t been from Montembeault.
Amid unconfirmed suggestions in the media the goalie may have played his last game for the Canadiens, in the wake of Fowler’s recent call-up, one has to wonder how much higher they’d be in the standings had he been able to give them more than 10-8-4, 3.43 goals-against average and .872 save percentage he has this season. Perhaps, if they stick to the purported game plan and Dobes and Fowler and net, starting with these next five games, fans will get a glimpse.
This piece isn’t meant to pile on in any fashion, only document a unique quirk in the team’s schedule. Obviously, Montembeault has had a rough go of it this season, and everyone should be grateful to him for his dedication to the franchise since being claimed off waivers in 2021, his consistent effort level every night, and especially his 2024-25 season, in which he finally established himself as a legitimate No. 1 goalie in the NHL.
While this season is a cruel reminder success can be incredibly fleeting, the Canadiens themselves have reason to be grateful that, on the strength of their body of work, their weak goaltending hasn’t put themselves in a position where they need to salvage anything. They’re still in the driver’s seat here, facing a slew of opponents in the immediate future you’d best believe they’d love nothing more than to drive right over. It’s time to see how the Habs fare against them with more stability in net. Each of them is winnable. How will they do?
