The Canadiens didn’t have their A-game in Toronto on Tuesday night, and Martin St-Louis said as much. They still found a way. Jakub Dobeš made the saves when it mattered, the depth throughout the lineup chipped in, and Montreal opened the 2026-27 season with a 3-2 win over the Maple Leafs. That is what a good team does on a night when its best hockey isn’t there.

The bigger question is the one hanging over the whole season. Can this group reach 100 points again?

A Road Trip Built for Bonding

The Canadiens left Toronto straight for Pittsburgh, where they play Saturday night. Rather than treat the stretch as a grind, St-Louis is using it as a mini team retreat. The plan includes a round of golf, a team dinner and a practice Thursday afternoon, followed by a reset day Friday to get ready for the game. St-Louis wants his players to enjoy the time together, and bonding is always easier on the road. Opening the season with two straight away games gives him that chance.

Where Last Season Fell Short

The Canadiens’ last two seasons have been special. Last year’s 106-point finish was followed by a run to the Eastern Conference Final, where they fell to Carolina, the eventual Stanley Cup champions. Several players had career years, and the team did things that hadn’t been done in Montreal in decades.

Still, the way the playoffs ended was a reminder of how far there is to go. Montreal escaped the first round against Tampa Bay with just nine shots on goal in Game 7. Then Carolina barely let them touch the puck, holding the Canadiens to 89 shots on goal across the five-game series. Players and management saw it clearly, and they were humble enough to say it out loud.

The possession numbers show the gap. Last season, 317 NHL forwards logged at least 800 minutes. Six Hurricanes ranked in the top 10 for shot-attempt control, and not one ranked in the bottom 208. Cole Caufield was the only Canadien in the top 65, at 40th. Three Montreal forwards landed among the 20 worst: Oliver Kapanen (297th), Josh Anderson (302nd) and Jake Evans (314th).

The blue line tells the same story. Of 186 defensemen with 800 minutes or more, four Hurricanes cracked the top 10 and none finished in the bottom 146. Lane Hutson was Montreal’s lone representative in the top 73, at 12th. Mike Matheson (174th) and Alexandre Carrier (175th) were two of the 12 worst. That is the difference between a champion and a talented young team.

The defensive results back it up. Montreal finished 16th in goals against and 23rd on the penalty kill. Those are the two areas the Canadiens have to fix, and it explains the biggest hire of the summer. Derek Lalonde is known as a specialist in defensive-zone structure and penalty-kill systems, and he has improved both everywhere he has coached. The staff has talked about “the details of the game” all season. This is where those details show up.

Can the Stars Repeat?

Last year’s offensive numbers will be hard to match. The Canadiens produced a rare trifecta: Caufield became the first Hab to score 50 goals since Stéphane Richer in 1989-90, Nick Suzuki became the first to reach 100 points since Mats Naslund in 1985-86, and Hutson became the first defenseman to hit 70 points since Chris Chelios in 1988-89. Few teams in NHL history have had all three in the same season.

History says repeating is difficult. Caufield scored 51 goals and finished second in the Rocket Richard race behind Nathan MacKinnon. Since 2010-11, only 15 players have scored 50 in a season, and just two, Leon Draisaitl and Alex Ovechkin, have done it in back-to-back years. Suzuki’s 101 points face similar odds. Over the last 16 seasons, 29 players have reached 100 points, and only seven did it in consecutive years.

Hutson is the best bet of the three. He had 78 points last year, and seven of the 20 defensemen who have hit 70 points did it in back-to-back seasons. They tend to be elite offensive defensemen like Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Adam Fox and Zach Werenski, and that is the company Hutson belongs in.

There is also help coming from other places. Juraj Slafkovský broke out with 30 goals and 73 points, and Ivan Demidov added 62 points. Neither has reached his peak, and both should keep getting better for years.

Coach’s Take

If the Canadiens want to repeat as a 100-point team and go deeper in the spring, they know exactly where to improve: goals against and the penalty kill. Lalonde may turn out to be the biggest move of their summer, because he can change how this team defends.

Repeating individual numbers won’t be easy for Caufield or Suzuki, but I believe the answer is culture. Caufield said it best: he doesn’t care whether he repeats 50, because the only thing that matters is winning the Stanley Cup. His personal performance isn’t the focus. It’s about the team. He’s absolutely right. It’s great to see players reach milestones and win trophies, like Caufield with the Lady Byng and Suzuki with the Selke, but individual awards aren’t the goal. Team success is, and that is where fans should keep their attention.

This is a team with a deep pool of talent and a lot of firepower. Despite its youth and its defensive flaws, it earned 106 points last season in the toughest division in the league. So the real question this year isn’t how many points the Canadiens will collect. There will be plenty of them. The question is whether they can earn those points in a better way. That is what will decide how far they go.

Stats are from Radio-Canada.