Hockey is back, and the whole organization is playing again. Only the Lions have not started their season yet. The Canadiens opened on September 29, the Rocket and the NCAA prospects followed on October 2, and many European prospects started earlier in September.
Every Monday during the season, we will publish a Weekly Report on the Montreal Canadiens organization with everything that happened the week before. Take note that our week starts on Monday and finishes on Sunday.
We will write about each Canadiens game, the news and their 3 stars of the week. We do the same for the Rocket and the Lions, and for the prospects we give you different news and stats. Every week you also get the stats of every player for the week. If you want to know more about the week, join our newsletter.
Canadiens: 1-0-1, 3 Points
It was a great start for the Canadiens, but not a perfect one. They earned three points out of a possible four on the road. Here is what happened.
Game 1: Win 3-2 at Toronto
Last Tuesday night, the NHL opened its season with five games, and the Canadiens were in Toronto to face the Maple Leafs and their first overall pick in 2026, Gavin McKenna. The only new player in the Canadiens lineup was Chris Kreider.
The Canadiens won 3-2 at Scotiabank Arena, but they had to come from behind to do it. Here is how the game unfolded.
Toronto scored first. William Nylander beat Jakub Dobeš 48 seconds into the game, with assists from Morgan Rielly and Kirill Marchenko. Montreal answered at 10:53 of the first period. Josh Anderson batted a puck past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-1, with Alexandre Carrier and Kirby Dach getting the assists.
The Canadiens took the lead early in the second. Zachary Bolduc scored on a wrist shot at 4:52, set up by Mike Matheson and Anderson, to make it 2-1.
Carrier made it 3-1 at 13:12 of the third period. He intercepted a pass from Gavin McKenna and beat Bobrovsky with an unassisted wrist shot. Nylander scored his second of the night at 15:46, with assists from Easton Cowan and John Tavares, to cut the lead to one. Toronto pulled Bobrovsky for an extra attacker with 1:15 left, but Dobeš and the Canadiens held on.
Toronto outshot Montreal 28-24. Dobeš stopped 26 of 28 shots (.929) for Montreal, while Bobrovsky stopped 21 of 24 (.875) for Toronto.
This was a night for the supporting cast. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský and Ivan Demidov were all held off the scoresheet. The bottom six made up for it with three points and two goals, from Anderson and Bolduc. Anderson led the way with a goal and an assist, Bolduc put Montreal in front, and Dach set up the tying goal. Carrier, a defenseman, was just as important: he picked up an assist on Anderson’s goal and scored the game-winner. Kreider, playing his first regular-season game as a Canadien, was held without a point but had one shot and three hits in 14:21.
Still, the reason Montreal left Toronto with two points was Dobeš. He gave up a goal on Toronto’s second shot of the night, 48 seconds in, but he did not let it rattle him. He stopped the next nine shots of the period, and at 17 seconds of the second, with the game tied 1-1, he turned aside a snap shot from Kirill Marchenko to keep Toronto from taking the lead. He faced 11 shots in the third period and gave up only the Nylander goal, then closed the game out under pressure. With Bobrovsky on the bench for the extra attacker, Toronto got one shot on goal in the final 1:15, from Auston Matthews, and Dobeš stopped it.
Special teams were a mixed picture. The Canadiens killed all three Toronto power plays, but their own power play went 0-for-2. Slafkovský hit the right post on the man advantage in the third period, a shot that could have extended the lead.
Toronto had won its last five home openers against Montreal, and this win also ended the Leafs’ 10-game home-opener winning streak. It spoiled the NHL debut of McKenna, who played 15:19 and had one shot. Beating the Maple Leafs always feels good for Canadiens fans, and doing it on the road to open the season is a strong way to start the year.
Game 2: Loss 6-5 in Overtime at Pittsburgh
The Canadiens came back from a four-goal deficit in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, but they could not finish the job. They lost 6-5 in overtime at PPG Paints Arena when Tommy Novak scored 1:33 into the extra period. Montreal still earned a point for its effort.
The Penguins outshot the Canadiens 30-25. Jakub Dobeš stopped 24 of 30 shots (.800) for Montreal, and Arturs Silovs stopped 20 of 25 (.800) for Pittsburgh.
Cole Caufield gave Montreal the early lead at 3:49 of the first period with a wrist shot, assisted by Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson. Pittsburgh tied it at 14:07 on the power play, when Evgeni Malkin scored on a backhand while Mike Matheson was in the penalty box for interference.
The second period belonged to the Penguins. Declan Carlile scored 32 seconds in, Samuel Girard made it 3-1 at 7:59, and Novak made it 4-1 at 14:01. Ben Kindel then tipped in a power-play goal at 15:32, just 38 seconds after the Canadiens were called for too many men on the ice, to make it 5-1. Pittsburgh put 15 shots on Dobeš in the period and scored on four of them.
Montreal did not quit. Suzuki cut the deficit to 5-2 at 18:46 of the second with a backhand goal at four-on-four, assisted by Hutson and Noah Dobson. Caufield scored his second of the night at 3:31 of the third on a wrist shot set up by Chris Kreider, and the Canadiens pulled Dobeš for an extra attacker late in the period. It paid off. With 1:08 left, Kreider scored his first goal of the season to make it 5-4, assisted by Suzuki and Ivan Demidov. Demidov tied it at 5-5 with 44 seconds left on a snap shot, assisted by Suzuki and Hutson.
Overtime did not last long. The Canadiens had two shot attempts that missed the net, and Pittsburgh scored on its first shot of the extra period. Novak beat Dobeš with a wrist shot, assisted by Malkin and Kris Letang.
Suzuki was the best Canadien on the ice. He finished with a goal and three assists for four points and was named the game’s second star. Hutson added three assists, Caufield scored twice, and Kreider and Demidov each had a goal and an assist. After falling behind 5-1, the Canadiens outshot Pittsburgh 12-5 and scored four times.
The biggest problems for the Canadiens were turnovers and their coverage in the defensive zone. The NHL credited Montreal with eight giveaways, and Pittsburgh made them pay for too many of them. Dobeš was not at his best behind them either, allowing four goals on 15 shots in the second period, although he stopped all five shots he faced in the third. Special teams did not help: Pittsburgh scored on two of its four power plays, Montreal went 0-for-2 on its own, Matheson‘s interference minor led to Malkin’s tying goal, and the too-many-men penalty led directly to Kindel’s goal.
The good news was the first line. Kreider, Suzuki and Caufield combined for eight points, eight shots, a plus-8 rating and nine hits. What a night from that group.
Canadiens: The First Two Games
Overall, the Canadiens did pretty well in the first two games of the season. They were not perfect, and they never will be, but leaving the road with three points out of a possible four is a result they would take every week. At times it still felt like preseason, with a lack of cohesion, missed opportunities, including three breakaways, and lapses in coverage. It is a long season, and as head coach Martin St. Louis likes to say, the focus stays on one day, one practice and one game at a time.
Canadiens: 3 Stars of the Week
For the full stats of every Canadiens player this week, see Habs Stats of the Week.
Rocket: 1-1-0, a Split Opening Weekend
The Laval Rocket opened their season with back-to-back games at Place Bell against the Syracuse Crunch and split the weekend: a 2-0 loss on Friday night, then a 6-1 win on Saturday afternoon. Across the two games the Rocket scored six goals and allowed three, and the two performances could hardly have looked more different.
Game 1: Loss 2-0 vs Syracuse (Home Opener)
It was a big night at Place Bell, with 10,243 fans on hand for the home opener and a lot of new faces on the ice. The Rocket dressed about ten new players, and defenseman Owen Protz, a fourth-round pick of the Canadiens in 2024, played his first AHL game.
The final score hides how one-sided the first 40 minutes were. Syracuse outshot Laval 20-8 over the first two periods, and the only reason the Rocket were still in it was Jacob Fowler. Nick Abruzzese finally got one past him at 14:13 of the first period, off a feed from Sam O’Reilly, and that held up as the game-winner. Fowler finished with 29 saves on 31 shots (.935).
Laval pushed back in the third period, outshooting the Crunch 19-11, but Mads Søgaard turned aside all 27 shots he faced (27 of 27) for the shutout. Abruzzese added his second of the night on the power play at 7:04 of the third, which proved to be the insurance goal. Syracuse finished with a 31-27 edge in shots on goal.
Discipline and special teams were part of the story too. Laval took ten penalties for 23 penalty minutes, and the Crunch converted one of their six power plays. The Rocket killed off the other five but went 0-for-2 with the man advantage themselves. The chances were there, though: Sasha Pastujov led the team with six shots, and Laurent Dauphin and Brett Berard added five each. They simply ran into a goalie who was perfect on the night.
Game 2: Win 6-1 vs Syracuse
The Rocket’s response on Saturday was exactly what you hope to see after a tough opener. Syracuse struck first, with Maxim Groshev scoring on the power play at 7:21 of the first period, even though Laval outshot the Crunch 10-6 in that frame. Then the game flipped in the second period.
Laval scored three times in just over eight minutes. Reilly Walsh tied it at 0:47 on a pass from Pastujov, Pastujov put the Rocket ahead on the power play at 4:31, and Berard made it 3-1 at 9:12. In the third, Pastujov scored his second of the game on another power play at 15:10, Alex Belzile found the empty net at 16:41, and Samuel Poulin closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at 18:20.
The Rocket outshot the Crunch 33-24, and Fowler was sharp again, stopping 23 of 24 shots (.958), with Groshev’s power-play goal the only puck to beat him. At the other end, Olivier Rodrigue stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced (.844).
The power play made the difference. Laval scored three times on five chances (3-for-5), while Syracuse scored once on four opportunities.
The game was also very physical. Tyler Thorpe and Jarred Tinordi dropped the gloves at 14:11 of the first period in the big fight of the night. Things boiled over again late in the third, at 16:41, the same moment Belzile found the empty net. Laurent Dauphin and Clark Bishop fought, and Rocket defenseman David Reinbacher and forward Xavier Simoneau took roughing and misconduct penalties, as did Syracuse’s Dylan Duke and Lucas Mercuri. By the final horn the two teams had combined for 86 penalty minutes, 42 for Laval and 44 for Syracuse.
The blue line was heavily involved on the scoresheet. Walsh finished with four points (1G, 3A), Luke Mittelstadt had three assists and David Reinbacher added one, so the defensemen produced eight points on their own. Up front, Pastujov led all forwards with two goals, an assist and seven shots on goal.
Rocket: The First Weekend
A split is a fair result for the weekend. On Friday, the Rocket were outplayed for 40 minutes, took too many penalties and could not solve a hot goalie. On Saturday the power play delivered, the defense joined the attack and the group looked far more comfortable. With so many new players in the lineup, the chemistry will keep developing, and the encouraging part is how quickly they responded. Fowler is the story to watch after two starts: 1-1-0 with a 1.53 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage. Next up for the Rocket is a pair of road games this weekend, Saturday at Springfield and Sunday at Hartford.
Rocket: 3 Stars of the Week
For the full stats of every Rocket player this week, see Rocket Stats of the Week.
Prospects: The Best Performances of the Week
In this section we review the Canadiens prospects playing in the NCAA, in Europe and in the CHL. We cannot cover every game for every player, but we bring you their stats, a bit of their profile and the news around them.
Many of the prospects in the European leagues started their seasons a few weeks ago, the CHL got going two weeks ago, and the NCAA opened last weekend. Here is what happened to the prospects last week.
Europe
Alexander Zharovsky was the best of the European group, with three points (1G, 2A) in three games. He now has eight points (2G, 6A) in 11 KHL games. Some fans may feel he is not producing like last season, but the context matters. He is playing mostly on the third line and his ice time is down a few minutes per game (13:26 on average) because his team is deeper and more experienced. He is also only 19 years old.
Daniil Sobolev and Filip Eriksson each had two points in three games. Sobolev collected a goal and an assist in his only VHL game of the week and then played two scoreless KHL games. Eriksson (SHL) had a goal and an assist after a slow start to his season, so he is trending in the right direction.
Goaltender Yevgeni Volokhin played just one game and made it count with a shutout, stopping all 23 shots he faced (23 of 23, 1.000). His VHL record is now 2-2-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average. His situation is a tricky one: he has nothing left to prove in the VHL, but he is stuck behind too many goaltenders in the KHL with Spartak Moscow, so he has to wait for his opportunity.
It was a quiet week for Bogdan Konyushkov, Gleb Pugachyov, Makar Khanin, Alexander Gordin and Rasmus Bergqvist, who went pointless in three games each, and for Vinzenz Rohrer, Carlos Händel and Aatos Koivu, who had no points in two games each. Rohrer opened his season with eight points in his first three games, but he has not scored a point in his last three.
CHL
Wesley Royston scored in both of his games this week, two goals in two games, and one of them was a game-winner. Brayden Klimpke is the best Canadiens prospect in the CHL right now. He played one game, with a goal and an assist, and has ten points in five games this season. Tyler Deakos had a good week in the WHL with a goal and an assist in two games.
Goaltender Mikus Vecvanags is playing in the BCHL before joining the NCAA next season, and he had another great week. He went 2-0-0, stopping 56 of 60 shots (.933), and is now 6-0-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average since the start of his season.
NCAA
In the NCAA, it was all Michael Hage. College hockey opened last weekend and Hage, who centers the first line at Michigan, had seven points (3G, 4A) in two games. He decided to return for a third NCAA season to improve his game as a center, and he was dominant for a Michigan team that is considered one of the best in the country this season.
Other prospects also did well. Sam Harris scored two goals in two games, and goaltender Alexis Cournoyer earned the win in his debut with his new team, Wisconsin, stopping 16 of 18 shots (.889).
Overall, it was a pretty good week for the Canadiens prospects across the different leagues.
Prospect News
LJ Mooney did not play in the NCAA because of an injury. Parker Trottier was not dressed for his team’s last game. Goaltender Arseni Radkov left during his last game on Friday night, finishing with 22 saves on 24 shots (.917) and a no-decision.
Prospects: 3 Stars of the Week
For the stats of every prospect this week, see Prospects Stats of the Week.
Preview Week
Canadiens: 3 Games, All at Home
After opening the season with two games on the road, the Canadiens are back at the Centre Bell for three games this week, starting with the home opener on Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Rocket: 2 Games on the Road
The Rocket opened their season with two games at Place Bell, and now they head out for a weekend back-to-back in the United States, at Springfield on Saturday and at Hartford on Sunday.
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