MONTREAL – Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis admitted a 4-3 time beyond regulation loss to the visiting New York Islanders left a bitter style along with his gamers.
Montreal led Thursday’s sport 3-2 late within the third, however the Islanders rallied with the game-tying objective within the closing two minutes earlier than scoring within the additional interval.
The way in which that sport ended was a degree of emphasis on Saturday morning earlier than the Canadiens hosted the visiting Washington Capitals.
“I believe we realized from that,” stated Canadiens ahead Cole Caufield. “We weren’t too proud of ourselves and the way we dealt with that third interval (towards the Islanders). Clearly, we knew we would have liked to have begin and play a full 60 minutes (Saturday).”
The Canadiens entered the third interval on Saturday with a 4-1 lead, thanks largely to Caufield’s two first-period objectives, the primary of which got here simply 30 seconds into the sport.
“Whenever you get a objective the primary shift of the sport, it sort of units the tone for the remainder,” stated Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki, who completed the sport with a objective and two assists.
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“It was begin,” added Caufield. “We wanted that tonight. It’s fairly cool to get these two early however, clearly, getting probabilities is an important factor.”
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Whereas the Capitals would trim the deficit to 2, courtesy of captain Alex Ovechkin’s second objective of the night time, Montreal was decided to not let the lead, or the sport, slip away from them once more.
“What I favored finest in regards to the sport was how we managed the third interval,” stated St. Louis. “I do know it’s completely different from the opposite night time as a result of we had been main by extra, however they scored a objective to chop the deficit to 2 objectives. We managed it higher. We continued to play within the third.”
Suzuki was additionally happy with his group’s dedication to ending the sport correctly.
“I believe there’s some factors within the sport the place we in all probability had been sitting just a little too far again,” stated Suzuki. “Generally, you get uncomfortable if you maintain shedding the lead. I assumed we did a greater job of not making an attempt to be too secure on the market.”
The Canadiens have seen a third-period lead flip right into a loss on eight events this season, together with three in regulation time.
Montreal at the moment sits third within the Atlantic Division standings with 75 factors, only one level again of the second-place Buffalo Sabres, who’ve performed another sport than the Canadiens.
With the Detroit Crimson Wings only one level again of Montreal getting into play Sunday, Caufield acknowledges the significance of not letting groups again into video games, particularly because the group will get set to enter the ultimate two months of the common season.
“These are essential video games,” stated Caufield. “It’s a dash to the end line. Clearly, each group in our division has been pushing in the identical course. All these factors matter. That’s what makes it enjoyable.”
HONOURING THE OLYMPIANS
Earlier than Saturday’s puck drop, the Montreal Canadiens acknowledged 11 athletes who competed on the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Along with Suzuki, Tom Wilson and Logan Thompson of the lads’s ice hockey group, brief observe speedskaters Danaé Blais, William Dandjinou, Félix Roussel, Florence Brunelle, Kim Boutin, Courtney Sarault and Steven Dubois had been saluted at centre ice by the Montreal devoted.
A thunderous ovation was additionally given to freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury, who captured a gold and silver medal in moguls in the course of the 33-year-old’s closing Olympics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 1, 2026.
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