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Thank you, first line!
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Thank you, first line!
Credit: Getty Images
Last night, the Canadian climbed the rankings.

On the sidelines of their 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, the Flannel passed the New York Rangers, who had two more points in the standings. But since the CH has a game in hand…

Result? Martin St-Louis’ men currently only have one club to overtake to be among the top eight teams in the East. We’re talking here about the Blue Jackets, who have a two-point lead over the CH.

(Credit: NHL.com)
Even if the CH wins tonight, it won’t be able to overtake the Blue Jackets in the rankings within 24 hours. But that’s not crucial either: the season doesn’t end tomorrow morning.

We knew that the victory over Vancouver was important and clearly, the guys understood. With 66 points, the CH would not be on the verge of the playoffs this Wednesday morning.

And when I say the guys understood, by the way, I’m mainly talking about the first trio, who got seven points and propelled the Canadian to victory via a very strong performance on the ice.

Nick Suzuki’s goal, wow…

NO SENSE, WHAT IS IT

DIRTY FREAKING DANGLE

#GoHabsGo

[image or embed]

— Canadiens Montréal (bot) (@canadiens-mtl.bsky.social) March 11, 2025, at 10:42 PM

The captain, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky (who is happy to have played like that, which he hasn’t always done this season) all scored and got at least one assist. Slaf got two.

Without these guys, the Canadian couldn’t have won their game.

And it’s also the only three forwards on the team who got at least one point last night. Mike Matheson, in an empty net and without help, scored the insurance goal at the end of the game.

So yes, the best players were the best in the game against the Canucks. And it will take that until the end of the season to stay #InTheMix and to hope to make the playoffs.

But that’s not the only thing to note about the day’s win.

What else do I take away from the game against Vancouver, which is the first of two in a row at impossible hours for hockey fans who just want to sleep at night?

1. Joshua Roy didn’t look bad last night. The more the game went on, the more he seemed at ease. But he didn’t look completely at ease either in his first game back in the NHL after a while.

It was a good first step, that said.

2. Samuel Montembeault is another reason for the Canadian’s win. He gave up two goals, one of which came from a numerical advantage for the Canucks that should never have happened.

And the first one wasn’t exactly a save he absolutely had to make either, given the circumstances. In front of Carey Price’s eyes, it wasn’t a bad performance, quite the contrary.

 

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3. As Guillaume Villemaire points out, in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, the Canadian’s first two full seasons under Martin St-Louis, the team won 31 and 30 games in 82 games, respectively.

And this season, in 64 games, they already have 31 wins.

Note that in 2021-2022, the CH had 22 wins. The previous seasons? 24 wins in 56 games (2021) and 31 wins in 71 games (2019-2020) in the seasons shortened by the pandemic.

You have to go back to 2018-2019 (44 wins) to see a season with more than 31 wins. And the CH is only one win away from changing that.

4. I wonder how Josh Anderson feels. After all, he no longer systematically misses all practices and we talk less about his injuries during games.

He must still be in a lot of pain… and he must think that #92, when he plays, can give more. Right?


overtime

The Canadian took the road to Seattle because tonight, at 10:30 PM (Quebec time), the Kraken will be on the menu for the Flannel.

It would be too easy to cut games in the West to have more Boston and Toronto on the menu, right?

We should see Jakub Dobes in goal and we’ll keep an eye on Patrik Laine’s situation. We’ll also keep an eye on whether Martin St-Louis will still think he’s in a show by Nickelback at some point during tonight’s game.

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