They don’t ask how, they ask how many, and as of last night the answer to that question is two wins in the first three games for the Montreal Canadiens. It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but they got the job done against the Chicago Blackhawks, and get to head home for a four-game stand at the Bell Centre. All things considered, a pretty good start to their season.
If there is one gripe, anyone who caught last night’s game will be well aware of what it is; the power play. They went two for an insane 10 attempts on the night, nine of which came within the first 40 minutes of play. If not for Kaiden Guhle’s game-winner with 15 seconds on the clock, they may have squandered quite the opportunity for two points in the standings.
A 20% success rate isn’t all that bad. In fact, it is almost precisely what their success rate was overall last season. The thing is, you don’t get 10 power plays in any old game. That many opportunities would normally be spread out over two to four games, and them being unable to put up more – particularly while seeing the same tired penalty killers all night – doesn’t exactly breed confidence in what they could do for the rest of the season.
That rate may be fine, but good teams find a way to get more in these situations. Last year’s champions, the Florida Panthers, had a similar number of opportunities as the Habs, converted at a roughly 3% higher rate, and that earned them nine more goals. Nine more goals could be massive for this team in getting back to the playoffs. It goes to show, you don’t need to convert at 40 or even 30 percent, you just need to maximize your output with these opportunities to score.
Even when they did score, it didn’t look all that comfortable, or replicable.
Definitely not how they drew it up, but Cole Caufield gets a power play goal.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) October 12, 2025
For now, under review for possible high stick. pic.twitter.com/p00o93EnDH
Why Cole Caufield was often stationed beside the net, essentially neutering the top unit’s best weapon is quite the question. They also tried to force far too many plays coming from below the goal line and into the slot, most of which were not leading to clean shots on goal at all. The second unit moved the puck well, but they too struggled to put clean shots on goal. The Habs were the better team at five-on-five, but When basically half the game is played on special teams, you have to get more production out of those units.
All this being said, a win is a win. The fans will take it, the team certainly will as well, and hopefully they make use of the crazy amount of film they’ve now collected on their power play to make some adjustments.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Tuesday night, when the Habs will host the Seattle Kraken for the long-awaited home opener at the Bell Centre.
