The Habs were able to make a late comeback on Thursday in Minnesota to get the game to overtime but Kirill Kaprizov notched the winner in the dying seconds of the extra session to give the Wild a 4-3 win.
Patrick Roy’s departure symbolized a shift away from the excellence that once defined the Canadiens – a standard of greatness not aligned with branding but with unyielding expectations. 28 years later, they haven’t gotten close to getting back to that standard.
After snapping a long losing streak at home, Laval was back on the road last week for a pair of Atlantic Division matchups. They played well in the first game to pick up a win before putting up one of their worst performances of the season the next night.
While the Habs blew another multi-goal lead on Monday night, it didn’t come back to bite them as Justin Barron scored in the opening minute of overtime to give Montreal a 3-2 victory over Winnipeg.
It was a light week on the schedule for the Habs as they wrapped up the home portion of their 2023 schedule with a pair of games against the Metropolitan Division. They had multi-goal leads in both games but were only able to hold onto one of them.
A strong second period gave the Habs a commanding lead on Saturday and while they nearly blew it in the third, they were able to escape with a 5-3 victory over the Islanders.
The month of November wasn’t a great one for the Habs or even Laval but several of Montreal’s prospects had strong showings, earning them a spot in our monthly three stars.
The first quarter of the season saw some good play at times from the Habs and poor performances at others. Not surprisingly, there is a considerable gap between our top grades and the worst ones; we wrap up our report card with a look at the forwards.
The Habs kicked off their final week of home games in 2023 on Wednesday as they hosted Pittsburgh. They weren’t able to capitalize on late power plays and eventually lost in a 12-round marathon shootout, falling 4-3.
After a frustrating road trip, Laval returned home for a trio of games last week. It didn’t get off to a good start but they played well against one of the top teams in the league, helping them come away with three points.