The habs lack opportunism in St. Louis

The Habs' trip comes to an end soon. All that remains is a stop in St. Louis (this afternoon) and Dallas, tomorrow.

Montreal is looking for a point in its eighth straight game.

Here are the line-ups. Mike Matheson was back, while Josh Anderson declared forfeit. Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Texier were back in St. Louis.

Today's lineup

Today's lineup#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/jPBE1INCP7

– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) January 3, 2026

#stlblues lineup vs. #habs:

Neighbours-Thomas-Kyrou
Buchnevich-Schenn-Snuggerud
Stenberg-Dvorsky-Berggren
Toropchenko-Fabbri-Joseph

Broberg-Parayko
Tucker-Faulk
Fowler-Mailloux

Binnington

– Lou Korac (@lkorac10) January 3, 2026

The Blues scored a goal in the first period.

Jayden Struble was unable to catch Zachary Bolduc's pass, leading to the home team's first goal.

Sloppy defensive play by the Habs leads to St. Louis' first goal of the game.

Hard to blame Struble on this one, the Bolduc pass was off. pic.twitter.com/2sJ8k3Wbpy

– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 3, 2026

And in the second period, the Blues doubled their lead.

Yet the Habs were on the powerplay.

A rough goal to give up when you're on the powerplay.

Overplayed the puck in the NZ, 2-0 Blues. pic.twitter.com/xos1jZzCHg

– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 3, 2026

Late in the period, the Habs inherited a two-man power play for just under two minutes.

He didn't score, and Lane Hutson wasn't even there…

No Lane Hutson on the 5 vs 3 unit.

We saw that earlier this season.

– Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) January 3, 2026

Final score: 2-0.

Jordan Binnington was sensational. Yes, the Habs lacked opportunism, but the Team Canada goalie stopped it all.

Binnington makes a great save on Suzuki to preserve the shutout. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/GUXAj8zrMo

– Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) January 3, 2026

Martin St-Louis's team will end their trip tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Dallas.

With a 3-1-2 record so far, things are looking good, anyway.

Extension

– More fear than harm.

Kapanen hurt his hand on that last shift. The last thing they need is another center out.

– Grant McCagg (@grantmccagg) January 3, 2026

– It was close.

Phil Danault was so close to scoring his first goal of the season.

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) January 3, 2026

– Yes.

GIVE BINNINGTON THE 2ND HALF VEZINA

– HFTV (@HFTVSports) January 3, 2026