The CH is the worst team at protecting a lead since last season

Pablo Herrera-Vergara
The CH is the worst team at protecting a lead since last season
Credit: Arianne Bergeron/NHLI via Getty Images

The Tricolore foolishly squandered a lead last night against the San Jose Sharks.

For the third time in seven days, the Habs squandered a 3-1 lead but ultimately came up short.

Nicolas Cloutier, a reporter for TVA Sports, made an interesting discovery. No team in the NHL has blown a lead more often than the Canadiens since last year.

The Canadiens have 54, four more than the Columbus Blue Jackets and six more than the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Habs have a very young team—the youngest, in fact—but that doesn't explain everything. The reasons are different from last year.

In 2025–2026, we could have blamed it on immaturity, but after the regular season and the playoffs—where the team showed great composure and calm—that excuse no longer holds.

I get the impression that the Habs think they always have the game under control. They stop doing things right, and against NHL teams, that comes at a high cost.

Yesterday, while fully in control, Lane Hutson, Arber Xhekaj, and Noah Dobson allowed the Sharks—who had come to fight—to get back into the game.

There are far too many lapses right now, and opponents are taking advantage of them. That's why I appreciated Cole Caufield's comments to the media—he said out loud what the organization is thinking but won't say.

It's time for the Habs players to stop thinking they can just coast through games to win, because they have more than enough talent and passion to play full 60-minute games.


In a nutshell

– Things are going well in Laval.

– There will be a lot of questions after the game.

– He's on fire.

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