Less than 24 hours after finishing a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Montreal Canadiens travelled to Pennsylvania with their opponents to meet again at PPG Paints Arena. It ended up being a somewhat predictably sloppy game, and the Habs were able to get a point by fighting to overtime, before ultimately falling 4-3 in a shootout.
They wouldn’t have salvaged that point without their second line, which was without a doubt their most dangerous on the night.
Great job by Demidov to hold this puck in, gets it to Slafkovsky, and a one-touch over to Kapanen to make it 1-0 #Habs pic.twitter.com/7yDURrfOCs
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) December 22, 2025
The ebbs and flows of this game were evident, but one thing remained constant, and that was the effort coming from the youth on that line. Juraj Slafkovsky played one of his best games of the season, Ivan Demidov was using his well-known skill to keep the Penguins on their heels, and Oliver Kapanen was up to his usual positional excellence, taking advantage of his linemates’ plays. They each notched multi-point games for their efforts, and the team owes them a free meal or two for making that one point possible.
The fatigue excuse may be one that falls on deaf ears for a lot of fans, but you could see it in how both teams played for stretches of that game. Nick Suzuki had a very up and down night, sometimes pushing the pace and others looking gassed beyond belief, which is understandable when you consider that he played over 20 total minutes the night prior, then another 23 on Sunday. The absence of Jake Evans is felt most by Suzuki, and the return of he and Phillip Danault to the team can’t come fast enough.
Notwithstanding the stretches of play chalked up to fatigue, Pittsburgh were the better overall team at five-on-five in that game. If the second line doesn’t step up, the Habs probably lose in regulation. When this team gets healthier, and when Danault is available, pressure is going to be taken off Nick Suzuki, which will have an ancillary benefit on this second line, as they’ll be able to get sent out more as an exploitation trio.
If they take this kind of effort on the rest of the road trip, they could be a really big factor in making it a successful one.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back on Tuesday night for the final game before the holiday break, on the road against the Boston Bruins.