Habs Weekly: A Strong Start on the Road

The Habs kicked off the 2025-26 season with a trio of road games against Original Six franchises.  While they didn’t start with a win, they picked up victories in the other two to head home with a solid start to the season.

The Week That Was

Oct. 8: Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 2 – Things didn’t get off to a good start with Bobby McMann opening the scoring just a minute into the game.  Eventually, the Habs found their skating legs and got an unexpected first goal with Oliver Kapanen’s first NHL tally coming shorthanded.  Zach Bolduc then picked up his first goal in a Montreal uniform early in the second but they weren’t able to get that elusive insurance goal.  After Calle Jarnkrok tied it in the second, Mike Matheson’s stick broke and Lane Hutson lost his seconds after, creating a break for Toronto.  Matthew Knies was stopped by Morgan Rielly buried the rebound for the winner before they added a pair of empty-netters.

Oct. 9: Canadiens 5, Red Wings 1 – Despite what the score might suggest, the Habs actually played better the night before but they took advantage of the few shots on goal they had.  After Dylan Larkin scored early to open the scoring, the Canadiens picked up five goals on just 13 shots on John Gibson, including tallies in back-to-back nights for Bolduc and Kapanen while Juraj Slafkovsky picked up Montreal’s first power play goal.  If nothing else, they were opportunistic which was more than enough to get them their first win of the season.

Oct. 11: Canadiens 3, Blackhawks 2 – This game had zero flow to it with a near-constant parade to the penalty box.  The end result was the Habs getting a ton of power play practice.  10 opportunities, in fact, one shy of tying the franchise record for a single game.  Both Cole Caufield and Bolduc scored with the man advantage to give them a respectable 20% rate on the game but a late-second-period penalty to Arber Xhekaj handed Chicago a power play that they capitalized on to tie the game.  It looked like it was heading for overtime but Montreal’s top line had a stellar shift in the final minute, generating several high-end scoring chances and oddly enough, it was their weakest chance that was successful with Kaiden Guhle firing one home from the point with 15 seconds to go to pick up the win.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Zach Bolduc (3)
Assists: Nick Suzuki (5)
Points: Nick Suzuki (5)
+/-: Kapanen/Newhook/Xhekaj (+2)
PIMS: Kaiden Guhle (7)
Shots: Bolduc/Caufield/Slafkovsky (10)

News And Notes

– Zach Bolduc is the seventh Hab in franchise history to score in his first three games with the team.  The most recent to do so before him was Yanic Perreault back in 2001.  Bolduc got his third goal against the Blackhawks which is the organization Perreault happens to work for as a development coach.

– Oliver Kapanen’s first NHL goal was a shorthanded tally.  That made him the first Hab since Chris Chelios back in 1984 to have his first NHL marker come on the penalty kill.

– Going back to last season, Patrik Laine has been held without a point in his last eight regular season games.

Last Game’s Lines:

Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Bolduc – Dach – Gallagher
Newhook – Kapanen – Demidov
Anderson – Evans – Laine

Matheson – Dobson
Guhle – Hutson
Xhekaj – Carrier

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Seattle – We’re obviously dealing with small sample sizes here but the Kraken went from one of the worst teams defensively last season to the stingiest out of the gate this year with Joey Daccord stopping 61 of 63 shots so far.  Seattle is without a pair of important youngsters with winger Kaapo Kakko and defenceman Ryker Evans on the shelf.  Promising prospect Berkly Catton made the team out of camp but has been scratched the first two games.  Meanwhile, Matty Beniers and Vince Dunn are their early scoring leaders.

Thursday vs Nashville – Not surprisingly given how last season went, offence has been hard to come by for the Preds early on with just four goals in their first two games.  Former Hab Justin Barron has had a very limited role early on, ranking sixth in ice time among the six blueliners they used in the opening week.  Their biggest offseason acquisition was Nicolas Hague who has been sidelined with an upper-body injury since the preseason and he’s unlikely to be ready to return for this game.

Saturday vs NY Rangers – Expectations are high under new head coach Mike Sullivan with a veteran-laden team.  However, they did lose their number one centre in the season opener as Vincent Trocheck is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.  They’ve been okay offensively out of the gate with ten goals in four games, led by Adam Fox who already has three while all 13 forwards they’ve used have at least one point already.

Final Thought

Much has been made about the fact that Lane Hutson doesn’t have a contract extension yet.  While both sides clearly wanted to get something done before the season started, that didn’t happen.  And that’s okay.

Based on the many accounts of the situation, they’re reasonably close in terms of the AAV on an eight-year deal if that’s the length they wind up going.  But sometimes, those final few yards before the end zone, so to speak, are the hardest to get to as by then, both sides think that they’ve compromised more than enough already.

Will a brief cool-down period help get something done?  Maybe.  Or maybe it takes a while into the season where Hutson’s current-season performance helps move the needle in one direction or the other.  Maybe it takes until next summer.

With Hutson not being arbitration-eligible or even eligible for an offer sheet, the only real hard deadline is September 15th, the last day that an eight-year deal can be reached.  We’re a really long way from that point so it’s far too early to be concerned that an extension isn’t in place.  They have lots of time and if they need to use that time, that’s perfectly okay.  Until next September comes around, I wouldn’t get too concerned about this situation.