First period
- A hot start for Montreal sees the top line get two quick scoring chances. They’re ready to play this one.
- Lane Hutson takes Macklin Celebrini right out of the play along the boards. He wants to prove he’s the better player is looks like.
- Jakub Dobeš just got his stick on a pass destined for a wide-open player at the side of the net. He may have saved a goal with the play.
- Hutson has made a standout play on each of his shifts so far.
- Oliver Kapanen tries to use a Sharks defenceman as a screen and ends up flubbing the shot and deflecting the puck off San Jose’s player instead. Either way, his aim of getting the puck behind Yaroslav Askarov is a success, putting his team up 1-0.
Oliver Kapanen trying to use Klingberg as a screen, gets a member's bounce right into the net! 1-0 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 3, 2026 at 11:19 PM
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- San Jose is really having a tough time keeping track of Montreal’s quick puck movement.
- Nick Suzuki begins his shift with a little pop to the jaw of a defenceman who got in his way on a dump-in, and ends it with an interference call as he tried to speed right through Vincent Desharnais on a backcheck. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
- The Habs are doing well to keep the Sharks to the perimeter on the power play, even if they did almost fool Dobeš on a shot from the half-wall.
- Montreal wins a faceoff in its zone and the top line thinks it’s off to the races, but the puck gets knocked away and the Sharks take it. From there it’s a mad scramble to recover defensively, and they can’t. Will Smith drives wide and passes the puck to Collin Graf, who just has to get his stick on it and tap it in.
- It’s time for the post-goal panic from the Canadiens as they chase the puck-carrier and leave passing lanes open.
- The period started so well, but an over-exuberant shift from the top line led to the tying goal, and San Jose controlled the play for the final minutes.
- When the Habs were on, the Sharks had no answer for them, so they just need to regain a little more composure for the final 40 minutes.
Second period
- Hutson draws a penalty just over two minutes into the second period as his good night continues.
- Montreal can’t find any of the setups they’re looking for and their only chance is an individual rush by Alex Newhook for a mid-range shot.
- Josh Anderson and Phillip Danault put in the effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone with the game back at five-on-five, and Danault ends up with the reward of a tipped-in goal to restore Montreal’s lead.
Mike Matheson with the point shot, Danault definitely gets a deflection, maybe another off Anderson, and it's 2-1 #Habs
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 12:10 AM
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- Ivan Demidov and Kapanen nearly connect for a third goal just moments later, but Askarov makes the lunging save, and Juraj Slafkovský sends the rebound wide on the short side.
- The Habs have drawn another power play. It’s Celebrini who goes off for hooking.
- Askarov robs Caufield on a one-timer from the side of the crease. The goaltender is doing a lot in this game.
- A better power play. It didn’t score, but Montreal is really testing Askarov’s lateral mobility tonight.
- Seeing the puck sitting in the slot for about five seconds, Dobeš decides he needs to be the one to pole it away. Unfortunately, he did that just as Danault was finally about to get on it, and it went right to Michael Misa instead, who sent it in to tie the game.
- Both goals against are ones Montreal had several occasions to thwart before they developed. They just can’t get out of their own way on the few dangerous moments the Sharks get.
- The customary post-goal panic results in a slashing penalty on Kapanen. Such an inexplicably fragile team whenever the red light comes on behind their net.
- Jake Evans winds up to clear the puck and gets tripped right as he goes to swing, hitting his back hard on the boards. You know that one hurt, but he skates off with San Jose’s power play ended by the infraction.
- The brief power play Montreal received didn’t look as strong as the second one, generating no chances.
- Celebrini makes Kaiden Guhle look like a dummy as he dances around him in the neutral zone, then sends a mid-range shot into the net that Dobeš should have easily handled. San Jose goes up 3-2.
- The post-goal panic results in a fourth goal as the puck comes from the corner to the slot and Matheson can only stand there and watch Alexander Wennberg score.
- I was getting ready to write how well Montreal had played in the period outside of the one goal against, but the last two minutes changed the story of this game. The defensive play has been an utter disaster tonight, and Dobeš hasn’t been able to bail it out. Just inexcusable effort in their own zone, and it looks like it will cost them two points.
Third period
- The intermission didn’t help much. More struggles in their own zone lead to shot that Dobeš wasn’t sure he saved, and as Kiefer Sherwood looked for a loose puck, Anderson punched him in the face. A melee ensues, but Anderson’s roughing penalty is the difference to create a San Jose power play.
- I did say Montreal just had to avoid another three-point game from Celebrini. He just achieved that with a back-door tap-in for Will Smith. 5-2.
- Dach throws a thunderous hit in the offensive zone, and Desharnais cross-checks him all the way back to the bench. The ref calls that, and the Habs are on the power play.
- The Sharks were focused on clamping down the triangle play between Suzuki, Caufield, and Slafkovsky. They weren’t able to cover the one-timer on the opposite side from Demidov, and the deficit is down to two.
Ivan Demidov bomb on the power play, #Habs back within two.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 1:13 AM
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- The deficit is down to one. Newhook takes a pass from the blue line and bumps it over to Evans. Evans sends it right back and Newhook scores.
Great forecheck gives the Habs a chance, and Alex Newhook puts this one through the glove of Askarov, and the #Habs are within a goal.
— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) March 4, 2026 at 1:14 AM
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- Newhook now has a point in each of the three games since his return.
- Maybe young teams just aren’t very good at holding leads.
- A great play by Demidov to toss the puck ahead of him and then cut to the middle results in a tripping call. Another power-play goal would tie this game up.
- Another power-play zone entry would help a lot.
- Three games after Newhook returned, Twohook shows up. With the power play expiring, he fires a shot from the goal line that deflects off the bottom of Askarov’s skate blade and into the net. It’s 5-5.
- A close race for an icing results in jockeying between Guhle and a Sharks forward, who ends up bowling through the back of Dobeš’s legs and knocking him down.
- It looks like San Jose has discovered a new tactic to get back in this game, as they just bumped Dobeš again after he froze the puck, then John Klingberg shoved him down again. This should be a Canadiens power play, but it will be four-on-four instead.
- On the rare occasion the Sharks get a shot, they’re bumping Dobeš.
- Montreal was caught with six skaters on the ice leading up to the play, so they go to a late penalty kill.
- Two short-handed chances for Anderson as he races onto a Habs clear.
- They had nothing going all period, but apparently San Jose deserved a bounce. The puck goes off the skate of Alexandre Carrier right to Philipp Kurashev, and he just has to make the pass across to Sherwood to pound in for the go-ahead goal.
- Montreal had a wild flurry with the net empty, with about 10 attempts in the final two minutes. But Celebrini’s fourth point of the night is setup of the the empty-net goal to seal a 7-5 result.
- That was arguably the worst defensive performance of the season, and I don’t think you’d find many takers to debate the other side. Montreal scores five goals and loses, and instead of being three points out of the division lead, they sit five points up on the ninth-place team. Things will need to look a lot different in their own zone when they play the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) At least it was an entertaining late game
2) The one defenceman who showed up to play tonight
1) It’s a simple autopsy for this loss
