The Montreal Canadiens built a whole identity around comebacks last season, piling up a franchise-record 25 of them. But even that run doesn’t touch what happened on February 19, 2008, against the New York Rangers.
That night in Montreal turned into the greatest regular-season comeback in franchise history, a game that looked finished early and somehow ended with the Canadiens skating away with a 6-5 shootout win. Carey Price was yanked just 14 minutes in after giving up three goals on 11 shots, and before the second period was five minutes old, Montreal was staring at a 5-0 hole. At that point, it looked like the only question was how bad the final score would get.
The Rangers came out sharp, and Montreal never found its footing in the first half. Brandon Dubinsky opened the scoring after Michael Ryder was stripped in the offensive zone, and Sean Avery made it 2-0 just 14 seconds later by burying a rebound past a diving Price.
Brendan Shanahan then made it 3-0 on the power play, and that was the end of Price’s night. Cristobal Huet took over, but the Rangers kept pushing.
The damage only grew in the second period. Shanahan scored again less than five minutes in, this time deflecting a Paul Mara point shot on the power play.
Then, 30 seconds later, Chris Drury made it 5-0 after a Chris Higgins double minor for high-sticking left New York with another man advantage. The Canadiens had never climbed out of a five-goal deficit in franchise history.
That’s where the night started to flip.
Montreal finally got on the board 8:30 into the second period when Mark Streit sent Ryder in and Ryder finished the play. Four minutes later, Ryder struck again, this time off a Ryan O’Byrne pass, and suddenly there was a pulse in the building. What had looked like a lost cause was at least breathing.
The third period brought the real surge. Andrei Markov picked up his own blocked shot and found Alex Kovalev alone, and Kovalev ripped a one-timer through Henrik Lundqvist’s legs.
Nine seconds later, the Canadiens were within one when Streit’s leg redirected a Ryder shot into the net. With 13 minutes left, Montreal had pulled all the way back to within a goal.
Then Kovalev tied it. On a Canadiens power play, Andrei Kostitsyn found him in the middle of the circle, and Kovalev blasted another one-timer past Lundqvist. The shot left him on his backside, and the image of captain Saku Koivu standing over him with his arms raised became part of the game’s lasting memory.
Overtime settled nothing, so the whole thing went to a shootout. Shanahan and Drury missed for the Rangers, and Koivu stepped up with a chance to give Montreal the lead.
He delivered in classic Koivu fashion, skating in, faking forehand, shifting to his backhand for another fake, then moving it back to his forehand and slipping it past Lundqvist’s outstretched pad. Jaromir Jagr missed New York’s third shot, and the Canadiens had their comeback.
From 5-0 down to a 6-5 win, it went from disaster to one of the most iconic nights in Canadiens history.
In Other News...
Kirby Dach Faces A Huge Canadiens Season For His Future
Kirby Dach heads into a pivotal year with the Canadiens, and the stakes around his place in Montreal are hard to miss. After signing a one-year contract for the upcoming season, he has a clear runway to show he can still become the center the organization hoped it was getting, but the recent track record has been uneven enough to keep the pressure on.
Injuries and inconsistent play have slowed Dachs progress over the past few seasons, and the next stretch may end up shaping his future more than any recent one. With free agency looming, he needs a healthy, productive season to put himself in position for a stronger extension or a more appealing market on his next deal. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Look Like A Real Dylan Larkin Landing Spot
Dylan Larkins future has become one of the leagues more awkward offseason storylines, and Montreal has emerged as a team worth watching simply because the field around him has thinned out. The Detroit captain asked for a trade after the 2025-26 season, but no deal has materialized, and he is still expected to be in camp when the next chapter opens. With five seasons left on his contract and a 67-point season still fresh in the mind, the price remains high enough to keep plenty of suitors at arms length.
For the Canadiens, that matters because the usual list of alternatives is getting shorter by the day, and the market is not exactly overflowing with teams ready to make a serious push. Montreal has long been the kind of club that would at least check in on a player of Larkins stature, but the obstacles around the rest of the league have only sharpened the possibility that this story drags on longer than anyone expected. Whether that creates a real opening for the Canadiens or just another round of speculation is still to be determined. [Read more 🡒]
Larkin Trade Rumors Just Hit A Huge Red Wings Roadblock
The Dylan Larkin chatter has started to drift beyond Detroit, and Montreal has surfaced as a possible landing spot as the Red Wings work through a front-office void that has slowed any real movement. Bryan Hayes and Frankie Corrado of TSN pointed to the Canadiens as a logical fit, noting both the way Larkin could slot into the roster and the contract factors that would have to be sorted out if the idea ever gained traction.
For Montreal, the interest is easy to understand. Larkin is the kind of center who would fit into what the Canadiens are trying to build, and the uncertainty around Detroit only adds another layer to a rumor mill that is already moving fast. The problem is that none of it matters much unless the situation gets past the earliest hurdle, and for now there is still a key piece of approval missing from the player side. [Read more 🡒]