MONTREAL 鈥� The Montreal Canadiens may have lost on Saturday, but the mood around the surging team hardly appeared to take a hit after a hard-fought battle on short rest.
The Canadiens fell 2-1 in a shootout to the stingy Dallas Stars, fighting all night long in a tight-checking game against a team that won its seventh in a row.
This after playing Friday in Washington 鈥� a 3-2 overtime win over the Capitals 鈥� while the Stars benefited from a night off.
鈥淚 liked our game, I had no passengers,鈥� Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said. 鈥淎ll the guys are involved, we played a mature game on a back-to-back. Maybe we didn鈥檛 have our legs early, but we made enough actions to deserve two points tonight, we just didn鈥檛 get them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big point.鈥�
Montreal (20-18-4) lost for only the third time in 12 games, climbing from the Eastern Conference basement into the playoff conversation during the last five weeks.
The Canadiens entered Saturday鈥檚 game with three straight wins against Colorado, Vancouver and Washington 鈥� and nearly earned a fourth.
St. Louis credited his team鈥檚 commitment to its mistake-free game plan on a night-in, night-out basis.
鈥淵ou can have a really good recipe, but can you keep repeating it? That鈥檚 where I think, on the maturity side of things, we鈥檝e taken a big step, because we鈥檙e more consistent,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t starts with an attitude and a mindset, that we do a lot of things on the ice that don鈥檛 necessarily show up here (the stat sheet) but have a lot to do with our success. Actions that might not be 鈥榝un鈥� but important actions.
鈥淭he guys jump on the ice and take care of the team, it鈥檚 contagious, and when you have success the confidence rises, and it starts a lot with consistency.鈥�
Jason Robertson buried the shootout winner, while Jake Oettinger made 30 saves and Jamie Benn scored in regulation for Dallas (27-13-1).
Forward Juraj Slafkovsky said the Stars, who entered with the second-fewest goals-against per game (2.50), represent a team the Canadiens are trying to emulate.
"They're good skaters,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey don't lose too many pucks on the blue line, they always recover pretty good. Good back check. And honestly, that's the style we want to play. Two similar styles met today, and we went to shootout, so it's pretty good."
LAINE AGAIN
Patrik Laine scored Montreal鈥檚 goal on a 5-on-3 power play 15:14 into the second period. He made no mistake, blasting a one-timer past Oettinger 14 seconds into the two-man advantage.
All nine of Laine鈥檚 goals have come on the power play from his 鈥渙ffice鈥� by the left circle.
"I've had days back in the day in Winnipeg where it was kind of similar,鈥� Laine said. 鈥淚t just seems to go in for some reason.鈥�
鈥淗e definitely has an annoying shot for the other teams,鈥� St. Louis added.
But is Laine worried about getting on the scoresheet at 5-on-5?
"They all still count the same, so doesn't really matter,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey'll come eventually, when we work hard and get a lot of chances. So not worried about it."
鈥楳ONTY, MONTY鈥�
Although the Canadiens limited Grade A chances, Sam Montembeault was solid with 34 saves on 35 shots.
Montreal鈥檚 netminder flashed the leather on Robertson in overtime to give the Canadiens a chance. He also turned away all 16 of Dallas鈥� shots in the first period, including a sprawling save on a dangerous wraparound from Mavrik Bourque.
"Lot of saves tonight to keep the game close, scrums in front of the net, kind of battles in front of the net, made a couple big saves in the third to keep it close,鈥� defenceman Kaiden Guhle said.
鈥淲hen you're playing good teams, playing close games, you just need one save to kind of keep the game close. And he's doing that for us consistently this year."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
