October 23, 2025
The Montreal Canadiens began their west coast road trip in Calgary on Wednesday night. The result was a 2-1 overtime win.
Here are two things that caught my eye.
Good teams have good goaltending.
The Calgary Flames are not a good team, but an excellent goaltending performance kept them in this game. The Canadiens were not exactly stellar in portions of this one either, but Jakub Dobes kept them in it. Good goaltending can give a team the wind their sails need to claim a win.
Likewise, subpar or inconsistent goaltending can suck the wind out of those sails. A smart coach knows that.
Jakub Dobes has been very strong to open the season, and he is earning his starts right now. This is not even debatable. I’ve seen some commentary about the potential for Sam Montembeault, as the team’s starter, to be slighted.
I find myself confused, because in my mind Monty has always been a placeholder. Yes, his performance for a rebuilding team was a very pleasant surprise. Yes, he earned his current contract. And yes, he will continue to be important for the Habs for the rest of that contract.
But let’s be clear. Both he and Dobes have contracts that end at the end of the 2027 season. That gives Jacob Fowler two years to develop in Laval, and then he will claim one of those spots in Montreal if all goes to plan.
Fowler is projected to be a high-end starter. He is expected to backstop the Habs when they’re contending. He is is expected to be the good goaltender on the good team.
Fussing about the rest of it in the interim seems nonsensical. Both of the current goalies will see lots of ice this season, and probably next. The coach has to play the guy who gets wins.
The Habs are on fire in the 3-on-3 OT.
Suzuki-Caufield-Hutson, followed by Demidov-Newhook-Matheson, has opponents crying uncle. Every one of these points is important. OT points, both winners and losers, points against bottom feeders, points in wins they didn’t deserve… they all count. And in April, when 82 games have been played, the counting will matter. How you got those points will not matter – just the total.
But in the back of my mind I’m aware of the artificial nature of the 3-on-3 OT. Once the playoffs begin, there will be no ability to coast to a tie, or fight for a late game tie, because you’re pretty confident about your chances in the OT. The regular season format is significantly different than the gruelling 5-on-5 sudden death (and fight to the death) format in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Why am I even talking about this in October when not even 10% of games have been played? Because I see a flaw in the Habs game.
As exciting as they are, and as successful as they have been so far, it’s hard to argue that the Habs are playing a full 60 minutes. They’re either starting late or skipping the second period. Last night it was the latter.
There’s a lot of hockey left, but here’s hoping these bad habits are quashed soon before they become too entrenched.
Here’s hoping they start in Edmonton, but if not, those OTs are a hoot!
Hab At Her 