The Montreal Canadiens have not been losing games because they can’t get themselves into good positions. The problem is what happens after they get there.
That was on display again earlier this week in a 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks, when a two-goal lead slipped away on home ice against a team that had played the night before. The Canadiens didn’t just cough up the points - they handed them to an opponent that wasn’t supposed to be this hard to handle.
The finish to that game told the whole story. San Jose’s winner came on a penalty kill in overtime, after Jakub Dobes took an interference penalty that left Montreal in a shaky four-on-three situation.
It’s an easy place to point the finger, especially given Dobes’ underwhelming season so far, but that would be too simple. He had a role in it, sure.
He was not the first domino.
Before overtime ever arrived, Arber Xhekaj put Montreal in trouble with a costly unsportsmanlike penalty in the third period after he dropped the gloves against Michael Kesselring, who chose not to respond. That set up the game-tying goal by Tyler Toffoli.
And before that, Lane Hutson turned the puck over to Michael Misa at the Sharks’ blue line, which led to a two-on-one and a goal that dragged San Jose back into a game Montreal had largely controlled in terms of offensive-zone time. Xhekaj has already drawn plenty of heat for his discipline, but this one wasn’t on him alone. The Canadiens are making the same mistakes as a group.
That’s the bigger issue: this wasn’t the first blown lead of the season, not even close. The loss to San Jose marked the fourth time Montreal has surrendered a two-goal advantage.
Two of those came against the Buffalo Sabres last week, and while the Canadiens still won both, they needed a shootout and overtime to do it. Those are victories, but they’re not the kind that help much when tiebreakers start mattering late in the year.
That detail matters because Montreal let the Atlantic Division get away from it by just three points last April. Right now, the Canadiens sit at 4-3-2 and are outside the playoffs. That’s a frustrating place to be when many expected them to be in the mix for the top of the division.
The schedule hasn’t exactly been cruel, either. Six of their first nine games have been at home, and they’ve had only one set of back-to-backs.
Four of their opponents have faced Montreal on the second night of back-to-backs, including San Jose. In those games, the Canadiens are 2-1-1, with both wins - against Buffalo and Detroit - coming in shootouts.
So yes, Montreal has arguably played well enough to belong near the top three in the division. But the standings don’t reward “almost.” They reward points, and the Canadiens keep giving away chances to bank them.
The road only gets less forgiving from here. After the loss to the Sharks, Montreal heads into four straight road games.
Four of its next five opponents to close out the month are also outside the playoffs, but they’ll all be rested. November brings another layer of difficulty, too: only four of 14 games are against non-playoff teams so far, and only six are at home.
That matters because American Thanksgiving has long been the point where the real playoff contenders usually start separating themselves, helped in part by the “loser” point that makes it harder for teams to climb back once they fall behind. Montreal already picked up one of those against San Jose. The issue is that it let the second one get away.
There is still plenty of time for the Canadiens to fix this. The schedule remains favorable overall, with only 10 sets of back-to-backs and the league’s biggest edge in rest advantages compared to games where the opponent has the fresher legs.
On paper, this is a soft landing spot. On the ice, the Canadiens are wasting it.
That’s what makes the early-season picture so uneasy. Montreal has still shown it can get into winning positions.
It just hasn’t shown it can protect them. Last season, the Canadiens co-led the league with 26 comeback wins.
This year, the story has flipped. They’re the ones giving leads away.
It’s still early, but not early enough to ignore a pattern. Thanksgiving is coming fast, and the Canadiens have that long to clean up the mistakes, cut out the indiscipline and stop giving away games they should be finishing.
Right now, the warning lights are on. Ask again in about a month, and this could already look like a poor start.
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For San Jose, the win offered a needed jolt, but it came with a couple of concerns layered into the result. Igor Chernyshov and Ty Dellandrea both left with in-game injury issues, leaving the Sharks to sort out a short-term picture that felt bigger than the final score. Even after a road victory like this, the more important question now is what comes next if the lineup keeps getting tested. [Read more 🡒]