There is no more difficult building in all the NHL for the Montreal Canadiens than the home of the Carolina Hurricanes. Heading into their New Year’s Day game, the Canadiens hadn’t won in North Carolina since 2016, with 12 straight losses.
Just to show that this team is improving and figuring it out, they finally won in Carolina with a 7-5 final on Thursday. Montreal moves to a season-high 10 games over .500.
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It wasn’t easy for head coach Martin St. Louis to give up on Zachary Bolduc on the first line. He did put in some solid games, but, overall, it was the analytics that may have sealed Bolduc’s fate.
Nick Suzuki is used to playing much more of the game in the attacking zone than the defending one, but with Bolduc, the line was getting caved in. In came Alexandre Texier, and change has come.
In their first game together, the line had an 87 per cent share of expected goals. They dominated all of their matchups against an outstanding team in the Panthers. The second game together could not have started better.
Only three minutes in, it was Texier who made a sweet pass to free Suzuki. He ripped a shot into the top corner so fast that the referee didn’t even credit the goal originally. Suzuki got his 14th goal of the season on his 45th point. Suzuki is on pace for 92 points on the season.
It was less than a minute later when the second line counted as well. The way this line is playing, they may need to be called Line 1A. They are dominant. Juraj Slafkovsky made an outstanding play to win the blue line, then dished it off to Ivan Demidov.
Demidov deked out the defender with a sweeping inside-out stickhandle. He then faked a shot and found Oliver Kapanen all alone for an easy wrist shot into an open net. All three players showed highly skilled hockey to earn the goal.
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The Canadiens’ third goal of the night was another example of Samuel Blais being a nice addition to the fourth line since they called him up from Laval. Blais fired a partial breakaway shot to the top corner for his second goal in five games with Montreal. It’s a good number for a player not seeing the ice all that much.
The Canadiens looked out of it midway through the second, but then scored two quick goals. Texier had yet another terrific play on the first line. He made a perfect pass through a defender on a two-on-one to set up Cole Caufield for his 20th of the season. Caufield is on pace for 41 goals on the season.
Only 23 seconds later, the Hurricanes’ Nikolaj Ehlers had one of the worst giveaways a player can ever do. It was an absolutely perfect pass to Josh Anderson in the high slot for his ninth goal of the year. In a wacky game to start 2026, it was 5-4 Montreal after two.
The third period was the Juraj Slafkovsky show. Anderson was injured for the third period, so Slafkovsky was double-shifted. It seemed as if he was playing centre. He held the puck through the neutral zone, taking it on the rush every single shift. If he’s not a centre, he sure plays like one, at least offensively.
With less than nine minutes left, Slafkovsky carried the puck 160 feet, beating four Hurricanes to slot it short side for his 14th goal of the season. Slafkovsky is turning into a bull on the ice. He is fighting off defenders. He is protecting the puck. He is coming of age. It’s stunning growth from the first pick overall, who is playing exactly like it.
The Canadiens’ scoring concluded with Lane Hutson nailing a 200-foot empty netter. Even his empty netters are magic. The Hurricanes dumped it in, and somehow, Hutson darted away from his check as if it were witchcraft. Hutson then fired it the entire length of the ice, hitting the middle of the goal. Hutson now has 40 points in 40 games.
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The Canadiens were without Mike Matheson, who was a last-minute scratch. Matheson was hit in the head by Brad Marchand at the end of the contest in Florida on Tuesday. Matheson logs more ice time than any player on the Canadiens, so his absence was important.
Without Matheson, the Canadiens’ defence was a mess early. The Hurricanes took advantage of that, along with bad goaltending, to do what they wanted for the first half of the game.
One of the issues of a three-goaltender system is that none of the goalies gets enough time in the net. Jakub Dobes hadn’t tended goal for Montreal for 10 days. He showed the rust badly early. On the first goal, he was deep in his net for the 25-foot shot. Save percentages go down drastically when a goalie is on his own goal line trying to make saves.
The second goal and third goals were bad defence all over the ice, especially the third, where Hutson had three Hurricanes around him at the top of the crease after his giveaway. No one else was to be found to help Hutson out.
The goals saved above expected for Dobes was abysmal in the first period, with a minus-2.22 after he let in three goals. However, credit to him, as once he got a feel for the puck after 10 days off, Dobes tightened up and was strong.
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The Canadiens are thrilled to have a player heading to the Olympics for Canada. The last time was 2014, when Carey Price and PK Subban were chosen to represent the national team in Russia. In 2026, it will be Suzuki who gets the well-deserved nod.
Suzuki couldn’t be denied. It wasn’t because of his remarkable point total in 2025 that he was chosen, but the complete game that he brings. Suzuki will be used in situations when Canada needs to defend well and kill penalties.
Even though he is the third-highest-scoring player in the NHL from Canada in 2025, that is not why he was chosen. Only Nathan MacKinnon, with 121 points, and Connor McDavid, with 115 points, are ahead of Suzuki’s 97 points for Canadian players. It’s a stunningly good total offensively, but it was the defensive talent that Suzuki has shown that won the day.
The complete game that Suzuki brings, Hockey Canada suggested on Decision Day, was thanks to his head coach, St. Louis. Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong opined that it was St. Louis who has helped Suzuki ascend to this lofty status as such a complete player.
The Americans will make their squad official Friday morning during the Today Show, but the choices have been effectively leaked. It is expected that Hutson and Caufield will not be chosen despite outstanding seasons.
Hutson was third overall among NHL defencemen in total points in 2025, with 78 points in 84 games, yet he still couldn’t gain respect from the selection committee because of his size. Only Cale Makar and Zach Werenski had more points than Hutson from the blue line.
The upside is that Hutson was tiring before the Four Nations break last season. Perhaps he can benefit from the same break this season when the Olympics begin in early February.
Slafkovsky is a lock choice for Slovakia. Texier was chosen by France. Kapanen is likely to land with Finland.
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