Tuesday night was perhaps the biggest game of the season to date for the Montreal Canadiens. Hosting the Ottawa Senators – a team they still have a chance of catching for the first wild card spot – a win coupled with a New York Rangers’ loss would put them in a playoff spot. Five third-period goals helped them erase two separate one-goal deficits with authority, and as of this writing, they do in fact occupy an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
You would expect a scoring explosion like that to be authored by the team’s top line, but on this night, it was some unusual suspects who took over the game.
Alex Carrier puts one on, Josh Anderson cashes the rebound. #Habs tie it at three. pic.twitter.com/woG87luwLl
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) March 19, 2025
Josh Anderson would add an empty netter to help seal the deal, giving him two goals on the night. Brendan Gallagher also chipped in with an empty netter for insurance, on top of two assists. Christian Dvorak? Well, he played what was undoubtedly his best game in a Montreal Canadiens uniform, leading the way with four points as his line authored this crucial win for their team. On a rare night where the top line couldn’t score – notwithstanding a power play marker from Nick Suzuki – the third line came in clutch.
It doesn’t take an analytical genius to understand that this team has been very reliant on its top line this season. To be fair, they didn’t disappear at all in this game, playing well enough to have scored a few of their own, but they simply had no finishing luck. This was bound to happen at least a few times during the stretch run, and the concern has always been that when it does, they don’t have a lot of offensive talent to fall back on outside of their big guns.
Expecting scoring like that from the third line on a regular basis would be a tall order, but knowing they can step up like they did should give this team some extra confidence moving forward. The goal for this team will still be to build a stronger supporting cast for their top line, but this group clearly has a ton of belief in themselves.
As they should. They went out against a Senators team that has also been on fire since the Four Nations, and took their lunch money. They were the better team. It took a fluke second-period goal – and one in the third that Samuel Montembeault would very much like to have back – for Ottawa to get the leads that they ultimately lost. The Habs didn’t quit, they didn’t get down on themselves, they just kept working until they found the opportunities they needed.
And it was quite the night of work from the bottom six – as fitting as I could possibly ask for given the name of the podcast.
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 Thursday night, as the Habs will be on the road to face the New York Islanders.
