The annual Super Bowl weekend back-to-back was unkind to the Montreal Canadiens this year. Losing consecutive games on home ice to the New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning, the Habs have limped their way into the Four Nations break, losers in eight of their last nine games. These results have seen them slip right out of the wild card race, and they’ll be looking for answers during their two weeks off.
There were two persistent problems in that back-to-back. The first was the Habs allowing too many high-danger chances early on, and the second – perhaps the more concerning problem – was an inability to finish their own such chances.
Good activation from Matheson, puck ends up landing perfectly for Brendan Gallagher, who is not letting his team quit on this game.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) February 9, 2025
4-3 with 10 minutes to play. pic.twitter.com/Ow0C3e2yNw
The only player who seemed to be able to cash in on his chances was Brendan Gallagher, who potted two for the Habs in their failed comeback attempt on Sunday. As lovely as it is to see him having the resurgent season that he is, if you’re relying on your third-line winger as a main source of finishing, you’re at a pretty significant disadvantage against any team.
Against Tampa, high-danger chances were 19-6 in favour of the Canadiens at even strength, and against the Devils the afternoon prior, they were 13-7, again in favour of the Canadiens. Overall, they were the more productive team on the weekend by a significant margin, and yet were outscored by a combined total of 9-3. The fact that they’re generating so many quality chances is a good thing, but they’re not worth all that much in the end if you can’t actually cash in on them.
There is something to be said for goaltending – Jake Allen and Andrei Vasilevskiy both played well in their respective outings – but that feels like a cop out. It wouldn’t be fair to suggest that either Samuel Montembeault or Jakub Dobes lost their starts for their teams. Dobes was pulled somewhat early in the second period after a third goal against – one that he would admittedly want back – but the first two were extremely high-quality chances against. Goaltending was a factor, but if the Habs convert on their chances anywhere near the rate of their opponents, they could have at least left the weekend with some points in the standings.
It might be cold comfort to fans who sat through two straight losses on home ice, but the good news is that the Habs played well enough to dominate the scoring chance column. If they can use the Four Nations break to discover some finishing, play like that should lead to some very entertaining games during the stretch run, even if it won’t be enough to get them back into the wild card race.
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