First period
- Bridgestone Arena is about two-thirds full with how this season has gone for the team, but the ones who are there are into the game early, so credit to them.
- Their team has also brought some energy to this one early. That’s good because it will force Montreal to match that level.
- Michael McCarron beats Jakub Dobes with a wrist shot, but not the post behind the goaltender.
- Mike Matheson tries to carry the puck up the ice through traffic and has it stripped away by Filip Forsberg. Forsberg passes off to Steven Stamkos, and the former Tampa Bay Lightning captain goes five-hold on Dobes to open the scoring.
- Michael Pezzetta tries to inspire his teammates to get involved with a fight at centre ice with Andreas Englund. He eats several punches, but maybe it did the trick.
- Nashville takes a slashing penalty immediately afterward, so we’ll credit that one to Pezzetta.
- Dobes makes a save on a short-handed rush, but can’t find the puck. A moment later, McCarron comes in and cleans up the rebound.
- Montreal is challenging the play for goaltender interference. This is going to be an interesting one because you are allowed to go after a loose puck after an initial shot. I guess we’ll find out.
- The goal is overturned, That’s a break for Dobes and his team.
- A long shift in Montreal’s zone ends with Jayden Struble taking a hooking penalty.
- A bad period for Montreal, their third consecutive poor opening frame in a row. Do they have the energy in their third game in four days to get back in this one?
First intermission
- The Blue Jackets have lost 4-0 to the Senators. I think in their case Zach Werenski just ran out of steam after carrying the team all season long. He’s pointless in nine of his last 12 games after recording 69 points in the opening 63 contests.
Second period
- After a long shift in their own end, the Habs’s top line pulls the team back into this game. Nick Suzuki has a pass blocked but then knocks the puck through his defender to send Cole Caufield in alone. Caufield rips a shot through Juuse Saros’s five-hole. Caufield scores his 36th, and has our more to go in about 17 periods to hit 40.
At the end of a long shift, Cole Caufield goes five hole to tie this game for the #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) April 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
[image or embed]
- Oliver Kapanen blasts one off the post seconds after the ensuing centre-ice faceoff.
- Dobes makes a save and squeezes it with his blocker. Ryan O’Reilly pretends it loose behind him and had Dobes twisting around in his crease looking for it. A late April Fools joke from the 2014 Lady Byng Trophy-winner.
- Patrik Laine has no need for tricks at the opposite end. He just rips a wristshot past the glove of Saros that goaltender barely even saw as it went in.
Lane Hutson sets up Patrik Laine, and a LASER makes it 2-1 #Habs With this apple, Lane Hutson tied Chris Chelios's franchise rookie record.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) April 6, 2025 at 9:16 PM
[image or embed]
- Another point for Lane Hutson, who gets the primary assist with the zone entry and setup to get to 58 assists and 64 points total.
- Luke Evangelista knocks the puck down with a high stick and decides to go in for a shot on Dobes anyway. Kaiden Guhle flips him horizontal and crunches him into the end glass. A scrum breaks out afterward involving every skater on the ice. Guhle ends up with the extra minor, but Evangelists probably won’t do that again tonight.
- Dobes drifts a bit too far to his right with a Stamkos shot incoming, but out his long left leg to make a toe save on the penalty kill.
- The Predators have really been pushes since that second goal went in.
- Nashville has a three-on-one with O’Reilly, Stamkos, and Brady Skjei, but they lose the puck before reaching the top of the circles. I’m starting to understand why this team isn’t scoring goals this year.
- Alex Newhook has a chance to tuck a rebound into the open bet but has the blade chopped off the end of his stick. The ref calls nothing.
- Montreal has to kill off a penalty to end the period, but the make it happen.
- I wouldn’t call that a good period for Montreal, but they got two goals to take the lead anyway. Twenty more minutes for a major two points, preferably with some of that time spent in Nashville’s zone.
Third period
- We’re a third of the way through the third period. Nashville can only muster low-danger shots on Dobes. You can see they really want to score a goal, but don’t know how to create one.
- They will have a better opportunity now as Pezzetta goes off for hooking.
- O’Reilly pulls Dobes out of the crease and then sits on him. I suppose there isn’t actually a penalty in the rulebook for that, so it makes sense that the ref would call nothing. Their desperation is now bordering on madness.
- The top line finally gets the puck into the Nashville end, and Caufield comes very close to making it a two-goal lead on a wristshot. Saros gets it with the tip of his glove.
- Almost a third Habs goal, but another post.
- Nashville has 34 shots. Dobes is doing his part.
- Montreal misses its first attempt at the empty net.
- Nashville spends the final minutes trying to jam the puck through Dobes’s pads, but the goalie stands his ground.
- Playing their eighth game in 13 days, the Canadiens extend their winning streak to five games with a 2-1 win. Everyone’s going to be zonked on that flight home.
- The New York Rangers now need to be six points better than Montreal to make the post-season, and they have six games to make up that difference.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) 62nd overall
2) The Apex Predator
1) Might be a playoffs-clinching decision
