It’s a conundrum. Were it not for their two-goal second period in Sunday night’s 4-3 St. Louis Blues’ victory over the host Montreal Canadiens, the visitors technically would have lost.
Ironically, it also may have been the Blues’ worst frame of the game, in which they mustered just six shots on net as the Canadiens dominantly dictated the tempo of play. Unfortunately for the home side, it just so happens two of those shots made it past goalie Jakub Dobes within less than one minute of one another no less, giving the once-trailing visitors a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Game Recap
With the Blues trailing 2-1, Brayden Schenn, who had opened the scoring in the first, fed Dylan Holloway on a partial two-on-one break for the game-tying goal, just 26 seconds into the second. Thirty-nine seconds later, Robert Thomas found an open Pavel Buchnevich in front of the net for an easy tip-in and a 3-2 lead.
Related: Projected Lineups for Blues vs Canadiens – 12/7/25
Schenn effectively sealed it at the midway point in the third. Holloway returned the favour on another odd-man rush by feeding the Blues captain, who made no mistake filling the open cage for the 4-2 and eventual game-winning goal.
Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson made something of a game of it, with a late goal, with Dobes, who had been a surprise starter of his second game in 24 hours in place of a sick Sam Montembeault, off for the extra attacker. However, that’s as close as the Habs would come… despite Dobson’s perception to the contrary, as he celebrated a phantom goal off the stick of Cole Caufield right at the lip of the crease as the buzzer sounded.
Blues goalie Jordan Binnington had gotten in front of it though, breaking the hearts of Habs fans in attendance. You can understand Dobson’s mistake, though. If there was one player the Canadiens would have wanted it on the stick of in that situation, it would have been Caufield. No one on the team is hotter, as Caufield had scored earlier in the game to give the Habs a short-lived lead in the final minute of the first period, extending his points streak to a career-high 11 games in the process.
It wasn’t meant to be, though. Chalk it up as a major missed opportunity on the part of the Canadiens, who had been facing a sub. 500 team and could have pulled into first place in the Atlantic. The now-15-10-3 Habs get a chance at redemption on Tuesday though, as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning who currently own a one-point lead over them in the division. Coincidentally, the 11-12-7 Blues can do the Habs a solid, by beating the Boston Bruins, who co-lead the Atlantic with 34 points, when they host them as their next opponents, also on Tuesday.