The Montreal Canadiens keep stacking results, and Thursday night’s 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins pushed that run into rare territory.
Montreal has now picked up at least one point in 12 straight games, a stretch the club hasn’t matched since the 1992-93 season. That was the year the Canadiens won their last of 24 Stanley Cups, and this current surge has now put them in the same statistical neighborhood.
Cole Caufield also carved out a little history of his own in the win, becoming the first Hab to score in eight consecutive games against Boston.
What makes the streak stand out even more is who hasn’t been in the lineup for much of it. Russian sophomore Ivan Demidov has been out, even though he’s viewed as a key piece of the Canadiens’ core. Nick Suzuki missed six of those games, and defenseman Mike Matheson also sat out a significant portion of the stretch.
Some will point to the goaltending, especially the work of Jacob Fowler, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Fowler has been part of the team’s success, not some shortcut to it.
The bigger question now is how far Montreal can keep this going, and Demidov’s status is the obvious piece to watch. The Canadiens still haven’t given a fresh target date for his return, but they did announce this week that he will take part in a public signing session on November 22. That event had been scheduled earlier in the season before being postponed because of his injury, so the expectation is that he should be back in the lineup by then.
Before that date arrives, Montreal has five games left: home dates against the Avalanche and Flyers, plus a three-game road trip packed into three days against the Rangers, the Devils, and the Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes.
That stretch will test the Canadiens, especially with back-to-back games against the Devils and the Hurricanes. The other major question is whether Jakub Dobes will be back in net, and whether he can help keep the streak alive. The next few games should tell that story quickly.
In Other News...
Canadiens Win Came With One Chris Kreider Concern Fans Feared
Chris Kreiders night against the Boston Bruins ended with an image Canadiens fans would rather not see. After a knee-on-knee collision with Michael Eyssimont, Kreider was in visible pain and had trouble walking off the ice, leaving Montreal to wait on word about how serious the injury might be and what it could mean for the stretch ahead.
For a Canadiens team that has leaned on Kreider as a major contributor this season, the timing matters as much as the concern itself. Even in a win, the uncertainty around his availability lingers over the next few games, with Montreal now hoping the initial scare does not turn into a longer absence. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens May Have Found A Pairing They Can Trust Most
Mike Mathesons return from a six-game absence gave the Canadiens something they have been missing, and it showed right away in a win over the Bruins. Montreal leaned on Matheson and Kaiden Guhle in the kind of minutes that reveal whether a pair can be trusted, and the two were matched heavily against Boston star David Pastrk while helping keep the danger level down.
For a team still sorting out its defensive structure, that matters. Matheson and Guhle have already flashed strong results in their limited time together this season, and the Bruins game only added to the case that they may be Montreals most dependable pairing when the matchups get tough. If that holds, it gives the Canadiens a clearer answer for how they want to handle elite opponents going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Ivan Demidov Update Leaves Canadiens Fans With More Concern Than Clarity
Ivan Demidovs status has become one of the quieter but more closely watched storylines around the Canadiens, especially with the young winger still on injured reserve after the ankle injury he suffered on Sept. 21. Montreal has kept the recovery process tight-lipped, giving the public very little access to his rehab work, and the timeline already points to a return no earlier than Nov. 14.
The latest update did little to clear the fog. Demidov reportedly skated once between Monday and Wednesday, but he is still wearing a walking boot, which only adds to the uncertainty around how far along he really is. With some speculation now drifting toward the possibility of surgery, the Canadiens are left with more questions than answers on a player whose development and availability are both worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]