The Montreal Canadiens are 4-3-1 after eight games, and they have played better hockey than that record suggests. There have been enough good stretches to believe Montreal could have collected more points in this opening run. One problem keeps getting in the way, though: the Canadiens cannot protect a lead.

Over the past two seasons, Montreal built its identity on resilience. When the Canadiens trailed, they found a way back into games and made life difficult for their opponents. This season the roles have been reversed. Instead of making the comeback, Montreal has too often been the team watching an opponent erase its lead, force overtime and, in some cases, take the extra point.

Last week was the clearest example. Over three games, the Canadiens allowed five third-period goals. Buffalo came back in both meetings to earn a point, first in a shootout on October 13 and again in overtime on Saturday, and the Capitals beat Montreal 5-4 in Washington in between. The Canadiens collected four of a possible six points, but they left points on the table, and not simply because their opponents played better. Montreal gave them chances to get back into games it should have been better positioned to control.

After eight games, Montreal is a minus-five in the third period, outscored 11-6, although three of those goals against were empty-netters. The number still deserves attention, because the final period is where game management, defensive responsibility, discipline and goaltending matter most for a team protecting a lead.

Yes, the Canadiens are still a young team, but they also have experience. Many of these players have been together for two seasons and have played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. At some point, protecting a lead has to become part of the team’s identity. The question is no longer whether Montreal can score enough to win. It is whether the Canadiens can manage a game well enough to keep the advantage they worked to build.

Six factors help explain why this has become a concern.

1. Third-Period Breakdowns: The Canadiens Keep Opening the Door

Five third-period goals in three games is a troubling trend, especially because those goals decided how many points Montreal took home. On October 13, the Canadiens led 3-1 after two periods, and Buffalo tied the game with two goals in 61 seconds early in the third. On Saturday, Montreal led 3-1 again, Jack Quinn scored short-handed 2:13 after Alexandre Texier made it 3-1, and Tage Thompson tied the game in the third. You can read both games in our recaps: the shootout win and Saturday’s overtime win.

A team that enters the third period with a lead has to know how to manage the situation. That does not mean sitting back and defending for 20 minutes. It means making better decisions with the puck, limiting turnovers in dangerous areas, winning battles along the boards, and forcing the opponent to work for every chance.

Montreal has not done that consistently. A team that loses its structure, fails to clear the puck or allows prolonged pressure in its own zone will eventually give up chances, and the longer the Canadiens defend, the harder it is to regain possession and respond.

There is also a psychological side. When the trailing team cuts a two-goal deficit to one, the game can change quickly. The opponent gains confidence, the building gets louder, and the team protecting the lead can start playing more cautiously. One goal becomes two if Montreal does not take control back.

This pattern has appeared too often in the first eight games. Instead of closing games out, the Canadiens have allowed opponents to believe a comeback is possible. Montreal has to learn to defend a lead without losing the ability to play, which takes structure and discipline but also puck possession, smart decisions and a way to relieve pressure before it becomes overwhelming.

2. Indiscipline: Too Many Penalties Make the Job Harder

Discipline is the second concern, and the numbers from last week show why. In three games, Montreal took 16 minor penalties, including a bench minor for too many men, which is more than five per game. Two of them came in the third period, when the Canadiens were trying to protect leads, and another in overtime.

The problem extends across the season. Montreal has taken 40 minor penalties in eight games, an average of five per game, the most in the NHL. The next highest total is Florida’s 37, and the Panthers have played nine games. These are the same issues Martin St-Louis addressed earlier this week.

The count is only part of the story. What matters is when the penalties happen and what follows. A penalty while protecting a lead is especially costly: instead of managing the game at even strength, Montreal hands its opponent a chance to build pressure with the man advantage. Even when the penalty killers prevent a goal, the team can come out of the sequence tired and pinned in its own zone, with little chance to change lines or regain possession.

There is also a difference between a necessary penalty and an avoidable one. Sometimes a player has to take one to stop a dangerous chance. Undisciplined stick penalties, needless interference and careless decisions, however, put a team in trouble without any defensive benefit. Discipline does not guarantee a win, but a team that keeps putting itself in difficult situations makes closing games much harder.

3. The Power Play: It Is Not Producing, and It Is Costing the Canadiens

The power play has been a problem since the start of the season. Last season Montreal converted at 23.1 percent. This season the Canadiens have scored four power-play goals on 27 opportunities, a 14.8 percent success rate that ranks 25th in the NHL.

There have been signs of life. On Saturday, Zachary Bolduc tipped in a five-on-four goal at 11:45 of the first period, and Lane Hutson scored on a five-on-three earlier in the week. But the larger issue remains: Montreal is not producing consistently with the man advantage, and the power play has also hurt the team at the other end.

Last week the Canadiens allowed two short-handed goals, one in Washington and one against Buffalo on Saturday, both in the second period. The Buffalo goal cut Montreal’s lead from 3-1 to 3-2 while the Canadiens had the extra man. A power play should extend a lead, build momentum and force the opponent to defend. When Montreal loses the puck, mismanages it or lacks urgency, the advantage becomes a liability.

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That does not mean the Canadiens must shoot on every opportunity. A good power play needs patience, puck movement, traffic and the ability to recognize when a chance is there. But patience cannot become hesitation, and puck movement needs a purpose. When the puck carrier holds on too long or forces a pass into a dangerous area, the opponent can turn the turnover into a rush the other way.

A struggling power play can cost a team twice: it fails to extend the lead, and it can give the opponent a way back into the game. The power play has to become more productive, but it also has to become more responsible.

4. Defensive Coverage: Losing Battles and Leaving Players Open

Montreal is working with a different defensive structure this season, and a new system takes time and repetition before every player understands his responsibilities in every situation. Whatever the system, though, the coverage has to be executed properly.

Looking at the goals the Canadiens have allowed, two patterns stand out: individual battles lost before a goal is scored, and coverage mistakes that leave opponents open. Sometimes two Montreal players follow the same opponent and leave another unattended in a dangerous area. Sometimes a defender arrives late at the point and gives a shooter extra time and space. Sometimes the Canadiens give too much room in the slot or react too slowly when the puck changes hands. NHL players need very little time and space to create a scoring chance, so small mistakes become big problems.

A defensive system is only as good as the players executing it. It requires communication, awareness, quick decisions and a clear understanding of who is responsible for whom. A breakdown does not always mean the system is wrong. Sometimes a player loses a battle, another makes a poor read, or two players fail to communicate. But when the same mistakes keep appearing, the coaching staff has to decide whether the problem is individual execution, the structure or both.

The Canadiens need to be more consistent in their defensive responsibilities, especially when protecting a lead. Good defensive hockey is not only about blocking shots. It is about preventing the quality chances that change games.

5. The Hammer Goal: Montreal Needs to Learn How to Put Games Away

This may be the most important part of the problem, and it deserves more attention. A team that protects leads understands how to manage a game, but it also recognizes the chance to put the game away. It does not wait for the final horn and hope its structure is enough.

When the Canadiens build a two-goal lead, they have a chance to score the goal that makes the comeback far harder. I call it the Hammer Goal. It is the goal that puts the opponent in a difficult position and can change the whole dynamic of a game. It might come on the power play, on a breakaway, after a turnover, or through a well-executed sequence while the opponent is taking risks to get back in. The key is recognizing the opportunity and capitalizing on it.

Saturday offered a good example. Texier made it 3-1 early in the second period, and Montreal soon had a power play. That was the moment for the Hammer Goal. Instead, Buffalo scored short-handed, and the game was back within one.

When a team leads by two but does not score on its best chances, the trailing team stays in the game. It can keep pressing, knowing one goal brings it within striking distance, and if that goal comes, the pressure shifts to the team that had been in control.

Protecting a lead does not mean abandoning the offence. Continuing to create quality chances can be one of the best ways to protect an advantage. A team that keeps possession, attacks when the chance is there and forces the opponent to respect its offence is often better positioned than one that retreats into its own zone.

Of course, no team scores the Hammer Goal every time it leads by two, and there is a difference between a needless risk and an aggressive play at the right moment. Montreal should not force a pass or chase a chance that is not there. But when an opponent makes a mistake, the Canadiens have to be ready to make it count. A third goal does not guarantee victory, just as a two-goal lead does not guarantee defeat, but it changes how the opponent approaches the rest of the game and shrinks the margin for error.

6. The Goaltenders Need to Make the Big Save

The Canadiens have shown improvement in several areas of their five-on-five game. In many games they have spent more time in the offensive zone, kept possession well and created chances that compare favourably with their opponents. Those are encouraging signs, because they suggest Montreal is not being outplayed for entire games.

Good five-on-five play does not automatically turn into wins, though. When a team gives up goals in the third period, it needs its goalie to make the timely save that stops the opponent from gaining momentum. A goalie cannot be expected to stop every shot when the defence lets a shooter take a dangerous chance with little pressure, and the breakdowns described above cannot be ignored. But there are moments in every game when one save decides whether a team keeps control or lets the opponent back in.

Jakub Dobes has an .842 save percentage in four games, and he stopped 26 of 28 shots in Toronto in the season opener, which showed what he can do when he is at his best. Jacob Fowler sits at .900 in four games, including 23 saves on 26 shots on Saturday. As a team, Montreal’s save percentage is .855, which ranks 30th in the NHL, though that figure includes three empty-net goals.

Save percentage alone does not tell us about shot quality, traffic or whether the coverage gave the goalie a realistic chance. Still, the Canadiens need more timely saves, especially when they are trying to protect an advantage. The goaltenders are not the only reason Montreal struggles to hold leads, but they are part of the equation. A timely save can turn a defensive mistake into a non-event, and in the third period a big save can calm the game down and give the team a chance to clear the zone and regain control.

The Bottom Line: Good Hockey Is Not Enough If You Cannot Close Out Games

After eight games, the Canadiens are 4-3-1. There are positives in their play, and it is reasonable to believe they could have more points. But the inability to protect leads has become a concern that cannot be dismissed.

Montreal has allowed too many third-period goals, taken too many penalties, struggled to produce on the power play and made defensive mistakes that gave opponents a way back into games. It has also not consistently capitalized on chances to extend leads, and the goaltending has not always provided the timely saves the team needs.

These problems are connected. When Montreal does not score the Hammer Goal, the opponent stays within reach. When the Canadiens then take avoidable penalties or make defensive mistakes, they give that opponent a chance to capitalize. If the goalie cannot make the big save, a game Montreal appeared to control becomes a contest again. That is how points disappear in the standings.

Some will argue that the Canadiens are young and need time to learn how to win consistently. There is truth in that. Young players need experience, and managing a lead in the NHL demands discipline, awareness and sound decisions. But this team is not starting from zero. It has two seasons of experience behind it, including the pressure of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and it should be using that experience to become a more mature team in the final period.

It is still early, and eight games are not enough to define what Montreal will become. There is time to improve the special teams, tighten the coverage and build confidence in protecting a lead. But the points lost in October count just as much as the points earned in March or April, and no team can assume it will recover every point it leaves on the table.

The Canadiens do not need to play better hockey for 60 minutes every night. They need to manage the moments that decide whether good hockey produces two points or leaves them wondering what went wrong. The challenge is clear: defend with more discipline, make the big save when it matters and find a way to score the Hammer Goal when the chance appears.

In the NHL, building a lead matters. Knowing how to finish the job is what turns that lead into a victory.