This edition of the Hidden Game is dedicated to … wait for it … the 40 minutes of a hidden game the Canadiens and Nashville Predators produced through two periods Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
The teams combined for 12 shots — six each — in the first period and played more than 31 minutes before a goal was scored. And to think people spend hundreds of hard-earned dollars to watch this when they could sit at home or go to a sports bar.
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish: The pace finally increased. The third period and overtime were electrifying and everyone went home happy following the Canadiens’ 3-2 overtime victory.
Guess the Canadiens didn’t get the memo: The visitors were coming off a 7-4 loss at Toronto on Tuesday night. And Montreal was the NHL’s sixth highest-scoring team going into this one, averaging 3.75 goals.
When in doubt, change the lineup: Nashville head coach Andrew Brunette changed three of the team’s four lines following the Predators’ loss at Toronto.
Strange, but true: The Predators, who didn’t join the NHL until 1998, are now 17-11-8 against the Canadiens.
Once is enough: This was Nashville’s only visit to Montreal this season.
In the immortal words of the late, and great, Red Fisher: “Somebody do something.” For two periods, everyone appeared reluctant to follow that credo.
If the game sucks, play fast at least: There were only three whistles through the first 11 minutes.
Star in the making: Not only is Russian rookie Ivan Demidov talented offensively, he produced an impressive backchecking effort in the first period, skating through three zones to impede Ryan O’Reilly.
Like watching paint dry: The teams went five minutes of the second period without producing a shot. Indeed, Nashville went halfway through the period before finally testing goaltender Jakub Dobes.
Dumb penalty: Cole Smith slashed Mike Matheson in the offensive zone almost five minutes into the second period.
Yes, we’re curious: Television cameras caught Brendan Gallagher and former Canadien Justin Barron having a friendly discussion two minutes later.
Either the fans were asleep … or they didn’t care: In the same period, Barron was shown on the scoreboard with a welcoming message from the Canadiens’ organization. It was met with silence. And Barron was talking to a teammate on the bench anyway, so didn’t even notice.
Off the schneid: Steven Stamkos, 35, scored his first goal of the season at 11:36 of the second period. Stamkos, a two-time winner of the Rocket Richard trophy, twice has scored 50 goals in his career and has reached the 40-goal plateau five times. So yeah, he was due.
He might have saved a goal: Defenceman Jayden Struble, finally dressed after being a healthy scratch for four games, cleared the puck later in that period after it took a crazy bounce off the end boards and Dobes was out of position.
About time: It took until the third minute of the third period for the spectators to break into a “refs you suck” chant. This followed what appeared to be Barron interfering with Gallagher. No penalty was assessed.
How not to play defence: Nick Perbix appeared to be stuck on the Canadiens’ opening goal, by Oliver Kapanen, six minutes into the third period. Kapanen converted his own rebound while Perbix had a front-row seat.
Canadiens’ Josh Anderson (17) ties up Nashville Predators defenceman Adam Wilsby (83) in Montreal, on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.
He’s forgiven: Perbix scored five minutes later, giving Nashville a 2-1 lead.
Best timeout of the game: It was called by Martin St. Louis with 1:16 remaining.
The new emergency goalie: With Dobes pulled in the final minute, Lane Hutson blocked Jonathan Marchessault’s shot.
And if that wasn’t enough: Hutson fed Cole Caufield for the tying goal with 19.5 seconds remaining in regulation time.
Save of the game: Nashville had a two-man breakaway in overtime. Dobes made a glove stop on Filip Forsberg.
News you need: Caufield’s overtime winner, with two seconds remaining — his second in as many games — was the 10th of his career, tying a franchise record held by Howie Morenz. He also became the fastest player in NHL history to score 10 times in overtime, requiring 292 games. The previous mark was held by Frank Finnigan (304 games).
Next time, decline the penalty: The Canadiens went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage.
Quick stats: Caufield and Nick Suzuki each had four shots. Matheson blocked four shots while playing 26:21. Zachary Bolduc had three hits, but hasn’t scored in two games. Patrik Laine played only 12:10 and was minus-1. The Canadiens won only 44.7 per cent of their faceoffs and were outhit 16-13.
They said it: “That’s a lot of overtimes … but it’s 10 wins,” Caufield said. “He (Dobes) played a hell of a game for us. He kept us in it. Huge save in overtime. A guy like that, he competes so hard.”
“I needed to make a save,” Dobes said of his overtime robbery. “In the third, I didn’t make a save. Probably if I could, we would have won in regulation. I owed one more save to the guys. I’m glad I rebounded and Cole finished it off.
“I just tried to stay as patient as possible,” he added. “Don’t make the first move. I made a save and (Forsberg) made it not too hard on me. I’m glad he took the shot.”
“It was just luck,” Hutson said of his block. “It was a pretty funny play — and Cole knows where to go. He’s a dangerous shooter. We want to try to play with a lead and close games out.”
“That overtime period was pretty crazy,” Suzuki said. “There were a lot of chances both ways. Dobes came up with the huge save on that breakaway to keep us alive. It definitely was exciting for the fans.
“I don’t know how much net Lane takes up, but he made a huge block and made a heads-up play to hit Cole. I thought we played a solid game. We just weren’t getting any goals, but we had a lot of chances. We’ve got guys that can score big goals obviously.”
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