The Habs continued their road trip with a trio of contests to wrap up 2023. After having some success in the first segment of the trip before the holiday break, they had none this time around, dropping all three games.
The Habs looked to wrap up 2023 on a winning note as they were in Tampa Bay to face the Lightning on Sunday. They took a two-goal lead in the second but weren’t able to hold on, falling 4-3.
The Habs haven’t had much success in Florida lately and that trend continued on Saturday night as they dropped their penultimate game of 2023 by a 4-1 score.
Topics in this edition of our podcast include the hit on Juraj Slafkovsky on Thursday, Jayden Struble’s strong start to his NHL career, Montreal’s goaltending situation, and much more.
Montreal’s first game after the holiday break was an inconsistent one as they had segments where they struggled mightily and others where they hung in against Carolina. However, in the end, they fell 5-3.
Lately, it has felt like the long road trip beginning in mid-December has been somewhat of a death knell for the Habs. However, they did quite well in the first leg of it this time around, picking up five of six points against the Central Division. Plus, some thoughts on the pending defensive decision Montreal will need to make.
After a heartbreaking loss in Minnesota on Thursday, the Habs looked to get back in the win column on Friday in Chicago. They got off to a slow start but then rattled off five unanswered goals to pick up the 5-2 victory.
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.
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.