Youth Habits Find the Way to Win

Published on: 4 5 月, 2026 by admin

The Montreal Canadiens face the Tampa Bay Lightning in a do-or-die Game 7 on Sunday night.

Before puck drop, it was announced that Noah Dobson would return to the lineup and participate in his first game of the playoffs, giving the Habs a huge boost on the blue line. Defenseman Arbor Zekaj was made a healthy scratch to allow for Dobson's presence in the lineup.

It wasn't the prettiest game, but the Habs found a way to emerge with a 2-1 victory, and a 4-3 series win in the process.

Let's look at the highlights!

Oh Captain, my Captain!

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki picked the perfect moment to score his first goal of the series, hitting a point shot late in the third period.

Well, if we're being honest, the right time would have been earlier, but you can't look like a gift horse in an elimination game.

It should be noted that this was the first time either Suzuki, Cole Caufield, or Juraj Slafkowski scored a goal at 5v5 against the Lightning.

rookie effect

Even though the Canadiens opened the scoring, Tampa Bay clearly controlled the flow of the game, as evidenced by their 19–4 advantage in shots after two periods of play.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Canadiens took a total of four shots in 40 minutes, resulting in undue pressure on the shoulders of rookie netminder Jacob Dobbs.

The first-year player performed with confidence, all things considered.

the other shoe drops

The Dobbs deserved full points for holding down the fort, but the Lightning ultimately crumbled, a situation that was fairly predictable considering they were the only team interested in taking shots in the second period.

In fact, it was the first time in Canadiens post-season history that they failed to register a single shot in that span, far from the ideal time to set that type of franchise record.

Despite everything being on the line, the game held on for the final 20 minutes of the series despite overtime.

It was an important test of whether the Canadiens were truly built differently – a team that thrived only after facing adversity – or a franchise that repeatedly failed to take series leads and failed to perform when it mattered most.

In a desperate attempt to generate any semblance of offense, head coach Martin Saint-Louis put his lines in a blender, placing Ivan Demidov on the top line with Suzuki and Slafkovsky.

This change significantly increased the Habs' offensive zone pressure, but did not necessarily lead to an abundance of shots.

To give you an idea of ​​how few and far between shots on net were, Suzuki's shot five minutes into the third period was actually Montreal's first since it scored in the first period in over 25 minutes of play.

Do you believe in statistically impossible outcomes?

The Canadiens finally started to get some momentum, with speedy forward Alex Newhook making good use of his hand-eye co-ordination, getting a puck out of the air before fouling out Andrei Vasilevskiy.

It was a spectacular feat of skill from Newhook, a heartbreaking scenario for the Lightning, and another excellent game in the face of adversity from the Habs. Oh, and it was also enough to secure an underdog series win against Tampa Bay.

All Montreal Canadiens stats are 5v5, via Natural Stat Trick, unless otherwise noted.

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Mark has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for the Journal Metro, The Athletic, The... More about Mark Dumont
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