The Habs officially kicked off the second half of their season this past week. They ended the first half on a losing note and started out the second half the same way in a week that saw them struggle to score. Plus, some thoughts on Sean Monahan’s potential upcoming trade.
The Habs put forth their best effort of the week on Saturday against Edmonton but came up just short in the end as Evan Bouchard scored a power play goal early in overtime to give the Oilers a 2-1 victory for a franchise-record tenth straight win.
December had some ups and downs for the Habs who had some of their best and worst outings of the season. Meanwhile, a handful of players had strong months statistically, earning them a spot in our monthly three stars as voted by our readers.
Montreal had a chance to get back in the win column on Thursday night as they hosted the struggling Sharks who hadn’t won in a month. However, San Jose was able to snap that losing streak, picking up the 3-2 victory.
Montreal’s forward depth got a little better on Thursday as the Habs announced that Rafael Harvey-Pinard will return to the lineup tonight against San Jose. Meanwhile, they’ve acquired Filip Cederqvist from Buffalo for future considerations.
Montreal scored twice in the first period but wasn’t able to hold the lead on Wednesday in Philadelphia. The game eventually went to a shootout where Sean Couturier was the only one to score, giving the Flyers the extra point in a 3-2 win.
The Habs were able to get Gustav Lindstrom through waivers in training camp but they didn’t have that same success the second time around as on Wednesday, Anaheim claimed the blueliner off waivers from Montreal.
2024 got off to a much better start compared to how 2023 finished for the Habs as they picked up a pair of victories against two of the stronger teams in the NHL, sandwiching a tough outing against Buffalo.
The Habs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against the Metropolitan-leading Rangers on Saturday night before New York fought back to tie it and send it to overtime. After a scoreless extra session, Cole Caufield potted the only goal to give Montreal the shootout win.
The final month of 2023 saw some impressive performances from the Habs amongst some of their poorer efforts of the season. Nonetheless, some players were able to have strong individual months. Who were their top performers? Make your picks for our monthly three stars.