And what’s good is that the Habs currently have their destiny in their own hands. If they play better than their pursuers until the end of the season, the team will participate in the playoffs.
In fact, if the Canadiens manage to get nine points in their last six games, they will be mathematically assured of making the playoffs.
The team currently has a four-point lead over the Rangers, who have six games left to play, just like the Habs, and a six-point lead over the Red Wings and Blue Jackets, who both have one more game to play.
In other words, the maximum number of points each team can get is 12 for the Rangers and 14 for the other two teams. And of course, we’re talking about a perfect end to the season, which has little chance of happening.
So if the Habs reach 92 points, they will be certain to outrank their opponents, regardless of tiebreakers.
The Tricolore will face the Red Wings next Tuesday in Montreal, and with a win, they could really hurt the Detroit club.
With a harvest of nine points in six games, the Canadiens will be assured of participating in the spring dance.
A difficult task, but not impossible for the team, especially the way they’ve been playing recently.
In these six games, three opponents are within the Canadiens’ reach: the Predators (whom they face tonight), the Red Wings, and the Blackhawks. A potential six points.
Otherwise, the other opponents are the Senators, the Maple Leafs, and the Hurricanes. A higher level of competition, but still, getting three points out of six is feasible.
And we’re talking about a worst-case scenario. It’s unlikely that the Rangers and Red Wings will win all their games until the end of the season, and a harvest of eight, or even six points, could be enough for the Habs.
In short, it’s going to be an exciting end to the season, and it continues tonight as the Canadiens face the Predators in Nashville.
It’s official, ladies and gentlemen. Ivan Demidov’s season in the KHL is FINALLY over.
The SKA from Saint-Petersburg didn’t manage to force a final game in their series against the HK Dinamo Moscou and lost the 6th game by a score of 5-2.
A tough defeat to swallow for the habs prospect, but oh well. Considering how he was treated this season…
Now we have to wait and see what the SKA’s plan is with Demidov.
Alex Ovechkin outsmarted Ilya Sorokin to score his 895th career goal in the NHL.
What a beautiful goal, by the way!
He now has one more goal than Wayne Gretzky… in as many games played as “The Great One”. Not bad! #Hehe
Seriously, Ovi has officially become the best goal scorer in league history, and perhaps this record will never be broken.
The chances of seeing another player score an average of 45 goals per season for 20 years are slim… and it demonstrates just how impressive Ovechkin’s career longevity is.
He’s 39 years old and still one of the league’s top players.
42 goals in 61 games at his age, that’s really exceptional. And it’s also why seeing him break Wayne Gretzky’s record this season is even more special.
He certainly didn’t steal the record!
Overtime
What a career Alex Ovechkin is having.
He will truly finish his career among the greats of the National League.
Nick Suzuki is playing a big role in all this as he has been truly sensational since the break, but Lane Hutson’s performance is also noteworthy.
The Canadiens’ defenseman was excellent again last night, scoring a beautiful goal, and he now has 63 points in his first season in the NHL. Not bad…
Hutson has collected seven points in his last four games and is really starting to win the Calder with his recent performances.
He stepped up at a crucial moment in the Canadiens’ season and it’s worth mentioning.
Hutson is not only playing like a veteran, he’s also playing like one of the best players in the league right now.
That’s no small feat.
Lane Hutson during the Habs four-game winning streak
– 1 goal
– 6 assists
– 23:42 mins per game
– On the ice for 7 even-strength goals scored & ZERO even-strength goals against
– 5 even-strength points & 2 powerplay points pic.twitter.com/HhbqdW5kya
If Lane Hutson doesn’t win the Calder Trophy, there will be an uproar in Montreal.
And rightly so.
Macklin Celebrini, Dustin Wolf, and Matvei Michkov are having excellent individual seasons… but Hutson is taking his team to the playoffs and that’s the big difference.
Each of these players would deserve to take home the trophy and there’s no doubt about that.
The 2024-2025 rookie class is really excellent: Celebrini, Wolf, and Michkov will have great careers in the NHL… and that puts even more emphasis on Lane Hutson’s case because he’s the top-scoring rookie defenseman.
He’s really special, the kid. And even if we talk about him a lot for obvious reasons, he deserves even more attention because he’s so good at his age.
The Canadiens signed a nice victory last night against the Flyers.
After the game, there was a nice atmosphere in the locker room and Martin St-Louis wanted to send flowers to Montembeault and Gallagher.
Monty was solid in front of his net, making big saves when it mattered, and Gally scored his 20th goal of the season. It’s true that the two deserve attention after the team’s win.
It was Brendan Gallagher who took care of giving the player of the game glasses in the locker room… and even though the veteran acknowledged the work of his goalkeeper, he chose to give the glasses to Oliver Kapanen – who also had a good game.
This is really a good veteran gesture from Brendan Gallagher.
He wanted to make sure Kapanen feels appreciated within the group, even if he had to return to Europe after starting the season in Montreal, and he wanted to congratulate him on his game.
Kapanen may not have scored, but he finished the game with a shot on goal and 8:18 of playing time. But, above all, the young center player took advantage of his opportunities to be effective on the ice, and that’s what to take away from his performance.
He didn’t put the team in trouble, and he really looked comfortable on the ice. Kapanen had a great season in Sweden, and it’s clear he’s gained confidence.
We’re not talking about the same player we saw at the beginning of the season, at least.
To briefly return to Gallagher, it’s in seeing him make gestures like that, that we realize he’s an important part of the Canadiens organization.
He’s become a great leader over the years, he hasn’t missed a single game due to injury since the medical team changed, and he reached the 20-goal plateau last night for the first time since the 19-20 season.
The Canadiens are lucky to have him, even if he’s not the Brendan Gallagher of his good days.
Brendan Gallagher became a 20-goal scorer for the 5th time in his career last night, and for the first time since 2019-20.
Given what he’s gone through this season with the passing of his mother Della, he should be the Habs nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy, given to an NHL… pic.twitter.com/I4TGbe5nus
Sportsnet’s Shawn McKenzie mentioned yesterday that Habs coach Marty St. Louis loves to look back at videos of his team celebrating on the bench after a winning goal, to see how they interact with each other pic.twitter.com/75z7Vc9Jik
Fun fact: The 6 players who beat the record for goals in the NHL since 1923 did it all at home.
Will Ovechkin break the trend today?
— Guillaume Villemaire (@GVillemaire13) April 6, 2025
– I like his comments.
Patrick Roy would have really liked to face Ovechkin, but admits that despite his legendary confidence, the Russian would have gotten the better of him more than once.
Once again last night, the Montreal Canadiens found a way to come back from behind to win, and thus get their hands on two big points.
The habs quickly fell behind last night, but they didn’t panic, and kept their calm until the end of the game.
The players shifted into second gear in the third period, and it paid off.
It’s not the first time the Habs have managed to come back from behind in the third period to win a game.
In fact, since the start of the season, the habs have ten wins coming back from behind in the third period, which is good for first place in the National Hockey League.
More wins coming back from behind in the 3rd period this season :
Canadiens : 10
7 teams tied for 2nd place : 8
— Guillaume Villemaire (@GVillemaire13) April 6, 2025
The two wins with comebacks in the 3rd period this week allowed the habs to distance themselves from the seven teams that have eight this season,
Both against the Panthers and against the Flyers, the Habs found a way to fill a deficit in the third period to win the game.
This is really a very beautiful statistic that demonstrates how much character the team has, and how they never give up.
It’s never over when the habs fall behind, and that’s an extremely important quality.
In recent years, the Canadiens had gotten us used to practically never coming back from behind, which made every game very difficult.
Obviously, the playoff race amplifies the chances of seeing the Habs come back from behind, especially when they play in front of their fans at the Centre Bell.
Moreover, since the return from the Four Nations break, the Canadiens have not lost a single game in regulation time at the Centre Bell.
The habs have a record of 8-0-1, with the only loss occurring in a shootout against the Colorado Avalanche after an incredible comeback by the habs, who were behind 4-1.
And in those eight wins, four were obtained thanks to a comeback in the third period.
In short, the habs are really the kings of comebacks this season, and that’s even more so with the Centre Bell crowd, which is on fire and in playoff mode.
It’s like an extra player, as Lane Hutson so well said last night.
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) April 6, 2025
Overtime
– This could be a moment to remember.
I’m told that if Alex Ovechkin breaks the record, the game will be interrupted and a ceremony of about ten minutes will take place. @TVASports
— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) April 6, 2025
– What a beautiful gesture from Gallagher!
It’s scenes like this that have helped the rebuilding Canadiens create the team chemistry they now have. Brendan Gallagher making Oliver Kapanen feel like a big part of the team again following last night’s victory over Flyers after returning from the Swedish Hockey League. #Habshttps://t.co/LR4xah0tYA
At the Montreal Canadiens’ annual golf tournament, the word that was echoing from all sides was “mix”.
Everyone, from Kent Hughes to Nick Suzuki, was talking about the goal of being in that famous “mix”, meaning seeing the playoffs from not too far away.
Well, in the end, that goal was not achieved, and we were lied to, because the Habs are not in the “mix”. The Habs are almost in the playoffs.
The goal of the “mix” was therefore exceeded, while never, ever would we have thought to see the Habs in the playoffs this season.
The Habs are really surprising everyone right now, including their fans, who still can’t believe that playoff fever has taken over the city of Montreal.
With another big win last night, in addition to the losses of the Rangers and the Blue Jackets, the Habs further improved their chances of making the playoffs.
(Credit: MoneyPuck.com)
This is the highest percentage of chances the Canadiens have had this season, and it could go even higher tonight with a win against the Nashville Predators.
If Martin St-Louis’ team were to get a fifth consecutive win tonight, the Habs’ chances of making the playoffs would rise to 84.97% (for a win in regulation time).
This will be another extremely important game for the Habs, because with a loss in regulation time, the Habs’ chances would drop to 61.91%.
The Habs must absolutely get at least one point tonight if they don’t want to drop their chances of making the playoffs.
With one point, the Habs would remain around 75%.
In short, it’s really a beautiful end to the season that the Canadiens are offering us right now, and the more time passes, the greater the chances are of seeing this beautiful end to the campaign continue with the playoffs.
This would really be quite a series.
Overtime
– It’s simply incredible.
Lane Hutson is a glitch in the matrix. We haven’t seen any defenseman in the NHL play like this.
His way of skating sideways and not backwards to follow the opposing attacker, his head and shoulder feints, his agility on the edges of his blades as well as his…
A couple of weeks ago, I predicted Ovechkin would break the record in New York against the Islanders. Not today, next week, 4 games from now. Ovi has 6 goals in his last 6 games. Crazy what he’s doing at this age. Never underestimate the legends!
The Montreal Canadiens did exactly what they had to do last night, which was to win in regulation time against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Habs didn’t fall into the Flyers’ trap for the second time in two weeks, and thus succeeded in their mission, which was to go get two points against a bad team.
It wasn’t easy, however, as the Habs made their fans wait until the third period to finally find the back of the net.
Seriously, this game was starting to get stressful after two periods with the Habs trailing by a goal.
Luckily, the Canadiens’ best players stepped up, and made sure the Habs would fly to Nashville with two more points in the bank.
And when I talk about the best players who were the best last night, I’m obviously talking about Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson.
Once again, these two players stepped up to allow the Habs to win.
Hutson took advantage of the crowd’s awakening caused by Brendan Gallagher’s 20th goal of the season to further inflame the Centre Bell with a solo rush from one end to the other, completed by an absolutely hallucinating shot with no angle.
Lane Hutson needs 1 point to tie Chris Chelios for the franchise record by a rookie defenceman.
The puck went in and out of the net so quickly that on the spot, many fans didn’t even react, thinking Hutson had hit the post.
This may have been only Hutson’s sixth goal of the season, but I have no doubt that the Habs’ defenseman will score more goals in the future, given that he has an excellent wrist shot.
With this goal, Hutson now has 63 points in 76 games, which puts him just one point away from Chris Chelios’ record for most points by a rookie defenseman with the Habs.
Let’s just say it’s only a matter of time before he breaks the record.
Hutson really has the gift of creating offense out of nothing, and that’s what makes him so special.
Moreover, throughout all this, the Habs’ number 48 is far from being bad defensively, on the contrary, he’s doing more than well.
The proof is that Hutson has the best differential in the entire NHL since the return of the Four Nations break.
Best differentials since the Four Nations confrontation
If it hadn’t been for that goal, we might not be talking about a Habs win this morning, and especially not in regulation time.
Why?
Because the referees decided to be blind once again, not calling a more than obvious penalty late in the game, when Tyson Foerster sent Jake Evans’ stick flying without being punished.
It was then that same Foerster who scored for the Flyers, finding himself alone in the slot in front of a stickless Evans.
In short, if Suzuki hadn’t given the Habs a cushion, we’d probably be talking about a scandal this morning, as the referees would have clearly cost the Habs a win in regulation time.
Suzuki allowed the Habs to breathe.
Note that the captain scored two points last night, allowing him to ensure that he’ll finish the season with more than a point per game. He has 83 points in 76 games.
This is the first time since 1995-1996 that a Habs center has had at least 82 points.
And by assisting on Lane Hutson’s goal, Nick Suzuki is now at 82 points on the season.
The first 82-point campaign by a Canadiens centre since Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse in 95-96.
They didn’t disappoint us, which often happens with Leafs fans.
In short, by beating the Blue Jackets, the Maple Leafs allowed the habs to build a six-point lead over the Ohio team, which is starting to be a comfortable cushion, even if the Blue Jackets have a game in hand over the habs.
Add to that the Rangers’ defeat earlier in the afternoon (thanks to the Devils), and that puts the Habs in a good position.
(Credit: NHL.com)
The habs now have a four-point lead over the Rangers, and a six-point lead over the Blue Jackets.
In short, a big thank you to the Maple Leafs, as we wish them the best in the playoffs.
Obviously not.
2. 12th consecutive win for the Blues
The Blues are simply unstoppable, and seriously, if I were a Golden Knights fan from Vegas, who risk facing the Blues in the first round, I would be scared.
Last night, while they faced the Colorado Avalanche, a power in the NHL, the Blues found a way to escape with a 5-4 win.
Québécois rookie Zack Bolduc also scored two goals.
Zack Bolduc is a FORCE to be reckoned with on the power play
He scores just 49 seconds in to get the Blues up early
That also extends Robert Thomas’s point streak to 8#stlblues
– Tage Thompson is the first American player to reach the 40-goal plateau this season. Recall that he was not selected by the United States for the Four Nations Confrontation.
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