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Seven different statistics put the Habs on top

After two consecutive overtime losses this week, the Canadiens de Montréal bounced back quickly last night with a 6-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth.

It took a big win, and the Habs got it, even if it wasn’t necessarily easy, given that the Habs trailed twice in the game.

In short, the Canadiens are back in the win column, with a record of 10-3-2 and 22 points.

This puts the Habs not only at the top of the Atlantic Division, but also 3rd in the entire National Hockey League.

(Credit: NHL.com)

It’s a great position for the Habs, but Martin St-Louis’ team’s excellent start to the season doesn’t stop there.

In fact, in addition to the standings, the Canadiens find themselves at the top of the NHL in seven (!!!) different statistics, which are as follows.

🥶🥶🥶

1st NHL scorer: Cole Caufield – Habs
2nd NHL passer : Nick Suzuki – CH
2nd NHL passer backs: Hutson – CH
nHL 1st Rookie scorer: Kapanen – CH
1st NHL rookie passer: Demidov – CH
1st NHL scorer rookies: Demidov – CH@TVASports pic.twitter.com/gusxQBbQgb

– Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) November 9, 2025

The 7th statistic is Lane Hutson’s 2nd-highest score among defensemen with 13 points, behind Cale Makar who already has 20.

In fact, the Montreal Canadiens players are at the top of various statistical categories at the start of the season, which is really great to see.

It’s been a very long time since the Habs have had players in the top scorers and other rankings.

We were used to seeing players from every other NHL team, but not from the Habs.

So it’s truly incredible to see Nick Suzuki in 10th place in the NHL scoring charts with his 20 points, just four points behind the leaders, Macklin Celebrini and Nathan MacKinnon.

It’s even more incredible to see Cole Caufield tied with MacKinnon for the NHL’s top scorer, or to see Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen dominate every rookie category.

And I haven’t even mentioned Jakub Dobes, who is in the top-5 for goals-against average at 2.25 and 6th for save percentage among all NHL goaltenders.

In short, the Habs are rolling along at a blistering pace right now, much to everyone’s delight.

Overtime

– Very bad news for the Capitals.

– The Habs have a good defense.

– Whew.

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Alex Newhook’s production and performance: more than just the Ivan Demidov effect

Last night, the Canadiens de Montréal won their first game in regulation time since October 25 in Vancouver.

The Habs haven’t won many games in regulation time this season, so a 6-2 win like yesterday’s against the Utah Mammoth feels really good.

To give you an idea, this is only the third time all season that the Habs have won a game by more than one goal, and that includes the 4-2 victory with an empty net against the Buffalo Sabres.

In short, the Habs pretty much only play close games, so winning by four goals will help Martin St-Louis’ team.

It wasn’t easy last night, however, despite the scoreline, and it was Alex Newhook’s magnificent goal that really changed the momentum of the game.

The Habs were much better after that, and were able to generate many more scoring chances, all thanks to Newhook, who thought he was Connor McDavid.

On a more serious note, the Habs’ #15 is really impressive this season, as everything is working for him.

Newhook’s confidence is soaring, and he’s producing at a very interesting pace (12 points in 15 games), especially when compared to his 26 points in 82 games last season.

And now you’re probably going to tell me that this transformed Newhook is due to the Ivan Demidov effect.

Of course, it’s clear that Newhook benefits from playing with the young Russian prodigy, but personally, I think the performances of the Habs’ #15 go beyond the Demidov effect.

Newhook is playing excellent hockey, with or without the young Russian’s help.

Last night, for example, Newhook generated his own goal with a magnificent breakthrough in the offensive zone, followed by a superb deke and a precise shot.

Demidov didn’t contribute to the goal at all, while only Oliver Kapanen picked up an assist.

And later in the game, when Newhook picked up his second point of the game, it was Newhook himself who picked up the puck in the neutral zone before serving a beautiful pass to captain Nick Suzuki.

In short, I can understand people linking Newhook’s success to Demidov’s arrival and the fact that they’re playing on the same line, but I sincerely believe you have to give Newhook the credit he deserves.

He had a horrible season last year, and now he’s bouncing back with confidence and character.

Newhook currently allows the Habs to count on two offensive lines, taking the pressure off the first.

Let’s hope the (only) 24-year-old forward continues to perform in this way, playing the role of young father to Demidov and Kapanen.

Overtime

– Indeed.

– Wow. Read on.

– Incroyable.

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Habs coach Roger Grillo battles cancer

The Canadiens de Montréal posted some very sad news on their social networks this morning.

The Habs announced that Roger Grillo, the Habs’ consulting coach, has been diagnosed with cancer and is currently battling the disease.

This is very sad news.

Grillo joined the Habs at the end of 2024, and has since been working with the Habs as a bench coach, meaning he’s not behind the bench.

He represents a very solid addition to surround and help the coaching staff. We wish Grillo the best possible recovery, and our thoughts are with him and his family.

On behalf of the entire DLC team, we send him all our support at this difficult time.

It should be noted that the Canadiens will be holding their Cancer Night tonight, which is probably why the Habs made this announcement this morning.

As for the Laval Rocket, they held their Cancer Night last night, as Pascal Vincent’s team defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-2 at Place Bell.

Overtime

– That’s one way of looking at it.

– With good reason.

– Norris slips further behind Piastri in the standings.

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Top-4: Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard top the NHL scoring charts

It was a rather quiet Friday night in the National Hockey League last night, with only four games on the schedule.

Despite this, there were some good highlights.

Here they are.

1. Connor Bedard scores four points and climbs to 2nd in the NHL

The Chicago Blackhawks’ young prodigy is currently playing in his third NHL season, and let’s just say that so far in his career, he hasn’t yet impressed as much as one might have thought.

Bedard is undoubtedly very good, but he hasn’t yet produced at the level we saw him dominate in the NHL.

However, this season, the Hawks’ #98 seems to have made great strides, and more importantly, he seems to be growing in confidence, as Chicago boasts a better line-up than in the last two seasons.

Things are going so well for Bedard, that last night, with his four points in a 4-0 Hawks victory over the Calgary Flames, he climbed to the top of the NHL scoring charts for a while on the night.

Everything finally seems to be clicking for Bedard, and it shows, as evidenced by his magnificent goal last night.

The Hawks forward now has 22 points, including eight goals, and a plus-10 rating in 15 games.

That was good for first place in the NHL, until a certain Macklin Celebrini stepped in and took over the scoring lead.

2. Two points for Macklin Celebrini at the top of the scoring charts

Celebrini was back at the top of the NHL scoring charts last night, scoring two points in the San Jose Sharks’ 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

He also scored a magnificent goal, in the same style as Connor Bedard.

Celebrini then added an assist on Will Smith’s game-winning goal to take sole possession of the NHL scoring lead with 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists).

It’s pretty crazy that the NHL’s two current top scorers are the first overall picks of 2024 (Celebrini) and 2023 (Bedard) respectively.

The two youngsters are 19 and 20 respectively, and they’re dominating the NHL this season, playing for two of the league’s worst teams.

But so far, the Sharks (6-6-3) and the Hawks (7-5-3) are showing great progression, which helps both young stars shine.

In short, let’s hope that both continue to produce at this impressive rate, and that they fight it out for the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the top scorer of the regular season.

3. Emil Heineman scores his 6th goal of the season

The Montreal Canadiens veteran is having a fine season so far with the New York Islanders, even if the team as a whole is struggling with its 6-6-2 record after 14 games.

Heineman is producing, and finding the back of the net with ease, as he did last night when he scored his 6th goal of the campaign on a superb passing play.

This now gives him nine points and a plus-5 rating in 14 games, which is a very good haul, considering that last season he scored 18 points, including ten goals, in 62 games with the Habs.

4. Second straight regular-season loss for the Red Wings

The Canadiens have lost their last two games in overtime, which has slowed them down somewhat in their battle for the top of the Atlantic Division.

Fortunately, the Habs’ closest pursuers have also lost their last two games in regulation time.

The Detroit Red Wings suffered their second consecutive defeat last night, losing 4-1 to the New York Rangers.

What hurts the Wings even more is that they have scored just one goal in their last two games, having lost 1-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.

In short, the Red Wings are two points behind the Habs and the top of the Atlantic Division with one more game to play.

Overtime

– Here are yesterday’s results.

– Here are yesterday’s top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today’s NHL schedule: 13 games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)
(Credit: Google/NHL)
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Top-5: a nine-goal avalanche destroys the Oilers at home

Yesterday was a very busy day in the National Hockey League, with 13 games scheduled across the Bettman circuit.

There was plenty of action in the various clashes, but a few highlights caught the eye.

Here they are.

1. Avalanche score nine goals against the Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers, off to another slow start to the season, were at home to the NHL’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche.

And let’s just say that the Avalanche lived up to its name last night, as it was literally an avalanche that fell on the Oilers.

The Avalanche won 9 (!!!) to 1 in Edmonton.

Nathan MacKinnon (four points) and Cale Makar (two goals) were among the entertainers in a game to forget for the Oilers.

For MacKinnon, it’s a 30th career four-point NHL game, which ranks third in Avalanche history.

In short, the Avalanche completely dismantled the Oilers, who saw their defense and their two goaltenders (Skinner and Pickard) picked apart.

2. Third win in a row for the Sharks

For the first time in a few years, the San Jose Sharks didn’t have a horrible start to the season.

Even better, the Sharks are having a good time at the start of the season, winning games to give them a 7-6-3 record, which is anything but bad for the Sharks.

In fact, last night’s 3-1 win over the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers gave the Sharks their third consecutive victory.

Macklin Celebrini, the NHL’s leading scorer, scored his 10th goal of the season.

Things are going really well for the Sharks, and in addition to Celebrini, Yaroslav Askarov is doing well too, turning aside 38 of the 39 shots he faced last night.

3. Three points for Jonathan Drouin

There’s a lot of talk about Emil Heineman on the New York Islanders, a former Canadiens player who’s doing well this season, but we’re also forgetting that Jonathan Drouin is having a great season so far.

Indeed, the Habs’ former Québécois player is contributing offensively with the Islanders, scoring three points yesterday in a 5-0 Islanders victory over the New York Rangers.

In addition to this fine Québécois connection, Drouin also served up a magnificent pass to Bo Horvat.

In short, with his three points, Drouin now has 10 points, including two goals, in 14 games, as does Heineman (6-4-10 in 15 games), who registered an assist in this victory.

4. Bruins beat Leafs for sixth straight win

After an anticipated poor start to the season for the Boston Bruins, they’ve been on fire for several days now, as last night they glued together a sixth consecutive victory with a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

They were 4-7-0, but now they’re 10-7-0, second in the Atlantic Division in points.

This is surprising, given that we all expected to see the Bruins at the bottom of the standings, but so far, so good.

David Pastrnak is obviously one of the main reasons for the Bruins’ success, scoring a superb goal last night against the Leafs.

It was a tough loss for the Leafs, especially since their former prospect, Fraser Minten, scored the late insurance goal on his return to Toronto.

5. Three points for Leo Carlsson

We’re obviously talking about Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard, but we mustn’t forget the excellent Leo Carlsson, who is also dominating this season.

The Anaheim Ducks’ Swedish center has been on fire this season, and he added to it yesterday with three points, including two goals, extending his point streak to nine games.

The Ducks won 4-3 in overtime against the Golden Knights, and remain in first place in the Pacific Division with a record of 10-3-1, giving them 21 points.

Carlsson now has 23 points, one behind NHL leaders Celebrini and MacKinnon.

Extension

– First NHL goal for Charles-Alexis Legault.

– Here are all yesterday’s results.

– Here are yesterday’s top scorers.

(Credit: NHL.com)

– Today’s NHL schedule: eight games.

(Credit: Google/NHL)
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Zachary Bolduc: no contract negotiations with the Habs to date

At the start of the season, the Canadiens and the Lane Hutson camp finally agreed on the terms of a contract.

But it wasn’t just Hutson who would become a compensated free agent at the end of the season.

Kirby Dach and Zachary Bolduc would become so too. As for Dach, it’s radio silence regarding a contract, and tonight, in the third period of the Montreal-Utah game, Renaud Lavoie gave us an update on Bolduc’s case.

According to the source, no contract negotiations have begun between the two camps.

The Québécois had an excellent start to the season, scoring three goals in as many games, but since then, things have been a little more difficult for him.

We all knew Bolduc wasn’t going to sign eight years/$64 million, but lately, Bolduc hasn’t been the most involved. Kent Hughes has the luxury of waiting, then. Anyway, he’s RFA, not UFA.

Right now, Bolduc isn’t in a position to start negotiating.

In the game against New Jersey last Thursday, he was the Habs’ least-used forward.

But when you consider that he was traded for Logan Mailloux, probably the worst player in the NHL right now, it’s comforting. I think the Québécois is an excellent third-line player for a champion club, and an Alex Newhook-type contract is conceivable.

Extension

Speaking of Newhook, who scored a superb goal tonight, if he continues to play with Ivan Demidov and play like this, he’ll command a good salary increase. Right now, he’s making $2.9 million a season until 2027.

He will become a restricted free agent at the same time as Demidov, in 2027. Big summers ahead for the Montreal organization. A chance for the cap to rise.

(Credit: Cap Friendly)
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Miracle: the Canadiens win in 60 minutes

After two consecutive overtime losses, the Habs were back in action tonight against the Mammoth.

Samuel Montembeault returned to the net after leaving it to Jakub Dobes on Thursday.

Here are the lineups:

Very early in the period, Kailer Yamamoto foiled Monty on the very first shot of the game.

On the visitors’ second scoring opportunity, the Québécois was foiled again, but Jake Evans saved the day.

An important game at the start of the match.

In the middle of the period, Oliver Kapanen used his speed to tie the game.

And of course, Ivan Demidov picked up an assist on the play.

In the second period, Lawson Crouse scored in his 600th NHL game to give his team back the lead.

Shortly before the goal, Josh Anderson was obstructed, but no penalty was called.

But seconds later, Cole Caufield scored his 11th goal of the season.

From an impossible angle.

The officials missed another penalty against Utah a few minutes later, but this time the fans won’t complain.

Alex Newhook served JJ Peterka a cup of coffee and then beat Karel Vejmelka with a good shot.

3-2 Montreal.

In the third period, Martin St-Louis’s team looked a little more airtight.

That didn’t stop them from scoring three times. First, Cole Caufield scored his 12th of the season, and second of the game.

Then Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach scored late insurance goals.

What a goal from 77 who are on fire these days.

For only the fifth time this season, the Habs win in regulation time.

Final score: 6-2.

The Habs welcome the Kings to the Bell Centre on Tuesday for their next game.

Overtime

– Samuel Montembeault allowed a goal on the first throw of the game, but after that, he recovered nicely. He stopped 25 of the next 26 shots he faced. Hats off to him!

– Big check!

– He’s on fire.

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Martin St-Louis’ comments this morning: Ivan Demidov stands to benefit

Things are going well in Montreal so far, but it’s not perfect.

The Canadiens are finding it hard to keep their leads, and this lack of focus starts with the coaches.

Is Martin St-Louis mismanaging his troops’ usage time? Perhaps. In any case, he’s aware that he needs to do a better job of managing certain players’ playing time.

Among these players, Ivan Demidov is the one whose ice time is the most talked about.

St-Louis didn’t mention Demidov directly, but the Russian is the club’s most talented player, and let’s just say he doesn’t play as much as guys like Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.

In the last game, Zachary Bolduc and Demidov were the forwards least used. Kirby Dach and Joe Veleno were used more, imagine that…

Scandalous. But hey, it happens.

St-Louis isn’t making excuses, but this is the first time he’s had a lineup this deep.

Dividing ice time among his star players comes with its own set of challenges, but it’s a nice problem to have. The season is still young, and MSL isn’t the most experienced in his position either.

Like all young players, we’ll give him a chance. But Demidov has to play. As much as Suzuki… as much as Caufield. If anything, Bolduc shouldn’t be the least-used forward…

Overtime

– Ah well.

– I don’t think it’s a cause for concern…

– Really?

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Two fine goals from Alexander Zharovsky at U20 tournament

Between Michael Hage, David Reinbacher and Alex Zharovsky, I’m not sure which of the Habs’ prospects is the most interesting to watch.

They will each have their own role in Montreal in the near future; on the one hand, Michael Hage is lined up to be the second center behind Nick Suzuki, David Reinbacher the number 2 defenseman on the right side of the defense and Alex Zharovsky… the second head of the Russian two-headed monster with Ivan Demidov.

He’s clearly the most talented of the Montreal prospects. And today, in the final of the U20 championship, he showed the extent of his talent with two superb goals in a 6-1 victory for his country.

On the first goal, you can see he’s not the fastest, but his hands are incredible.

The tournament is played three-on-three (he’s going to be good in overtime in the NHL, him) and it’s clear that there’s a lot more space on the rink to make maneuvers. Still, it’s worth pointing out…

On the second net, he’s well positioned in the offensive zone to receive a pass, and the rest is simply masterful. I’ll say it again: his hands are incredible.

He’s the kind of player who doesn’t need the best skate in the world, because his hands and vision more than make up for it.

According to Elite Prospects, he’s 6’1″. That’s already a good size to be a regular in the NHL, but it looks like he’s a little taller. A fan made the same point I did about X. Ivan Demidov is also 6’1″ and his compatriot looks much taller.

This could be an interesting asset for him to play on a top-6 in Montreal.

Overtime

– The Alouettes head to the Grey Cup.

– Thanks to this kick.

– Another Habs prospect stands out in Europe.

– Well done.

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Jakub Dobes created a scandal with his remarks against his country

Last night, despite the Canadiens’ 4-3 loss to the Devils, what really caught the eye was Jakub Dobes’ post-match reaction.

The young goaltender was very emotional following his first loss of the season, and had great difficulty holding back his tears as he answered reporters’ questions.

Her intense reaction was the subject of much discussion over the course of the day, sometimes for the wrong reasons, and was even discussed in the National Assembly.

However, and far be it from me to judge the way he reacted, we can still wonder whether defeat was the only reason behind Dobes’ emotions.

The fact remains that a regular-season defeat, in overtime no less, in which he has little to reproach himself for, is not the end of the world.

Dobes had a decent evening in goal. Not his best performance of the season, but not bad either.

Let’s just say it’s not his first failure, nor his last.

However, Marc Antoine Godin wonders if Dobes’ reaction is not only linked to the defeat, but also to his situation as goalkeeper for the Czech team ahead of the next Olympic Games.

When asked about the possibility of representing the Czech Republic in Milan, Dobes replied that the team’s management didn’t answer his e-mails.

Incidentally, he’s not the only player to criticize his native country, as Juraj Slafkovsky blamed the Slovak media last year.

The problem is that the news caused quite a stir in the Czech media, and it’s the kind of situation that doesn’t usually please European team managers.

According to Godin, Dobes put himself under extra pressure before the game because of the situation with the Czech team, and as a result, the goalkeeper had his worst outing of the season.

As I said earlier, without being bad, the young keeper wasn’t as good as usual.

And if, on top of that, Dobes had put himself under extra pressure to perform well in order to impress the Czech team’s management, it’s easy to understand his emotional reaction after the match, when the stakes were perhaps just two points for him.

Overtime

– Nice comeback for the Rocket.

– The winning goal.

– Michael Hage also scored in an empty net.

– Great start to the season.

– Wow!

– Fourth straight win.