The Montreal Canadiens snapped their 2-game losing streak with a 3-2 win in overtime against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night. Jake Evans played hero for the Habs with his first career OT winning goal. With the victory, the Habs maintain pace with the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres who both won their games on Tuesday night. All 3 teams are now tied for 3rd in the Atlantic Division with 65 points, with the Sabres having the advantage for the time being due to games in hand. On the positive side, the Canadiens didn’t widen the gap with the Florida Panthers, who sit just outside a wild card spot.
The #Habs beat the #GoldenKnights 3-2 in overtime.
Thoughts?
Les Canadiens de Montréal ont vaincu les Golden Knights de Vegas 3-2 en prolongation.
Prochain match : Canadiens vs Avalanche
29 janvier à 19 h#GoHabsGo #thesickpodcast @TonyMarinaro pic.twitter.com/bZETHWVWLn
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) January 28, 2026
As great as Evans’ goal was to get the win on Tuesday, none of that would have been possible had it not been for goaltender Jakub Dobes, who played his best game of the 2026 calendar year so far. Dobes made 32 saves on the 34 shots he faced, which included multiple big high-danger stops. The Habs netminder has now improved to 16-5-3 in 24 games this year, which includes going 5-1-0 in his last 6 starts.
Cole Caufield throws flowers at Jakub Dobes following tonight’s win vs Vegas 💐
Cole Caufield lance des fleurs à Jakub Dobes suite à une victoire contre Vegas 💐@TonyMarinaro #thesickpodcast #gohabsgo pic.twitter.com/rV6JCoX826
— The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) January 28, 2026
For a team like the Canadiens who have been having goaltending issues for the last couple of weeks, it was a nice change to have the goaltender step up and be a huge reason for the team’s victory. Dobes played Tuesday night and was much more technically sound in his net, which is something that he has had to work on. It will be interesting to see if he can start a more technically sound goaltending more often because it makes it much easier for his teammates.
At the other end of the ice, Akira Schmid had a solid night, making huge saves on Habs forward Cole Caufield throughout the game. Thankfully for the Canadiens sniper, he was eventually able to beat Schmid and extend his goal streak to 6 games. Caufield now has 9 goals in his last 6 games and is likely the hottest scorer in the league right now.
Pavel Dorofeyev can really rip it 😳 pic.twitter.com/rf3Z66dlQr
— NHL (@NHL) January 28, 2026
Despite the win, the Habs struggled early in the game, as it was the Golden Knights who had the majority of the shots during the first 10 minutes of the game. The Golden Knights opened the scoring 8:38 into the first period, following a play where Ivan Demidov and Alexandre Carrier got their wires crossed in the offensive zone. This allowed Pavel Dorofeyev to poke the puck loose to create a 2-on-1 chance, where he faked the pass before firing the puck opposite side on Dobes to give the Golden Knights an early 1-0 lead.
Despite being down 1-0, the Habs started to tip the scales in their favour slowly. The Canadiens challenged Schmid in the 1st period, but they weren’t able to solve the Golden Knights netminder in the opening frame. Their best chance came from Caufield, who robbed them with a cross-crease save to prevent an easy goal. That save clearly showed Caufield it wouldn’t be an easy night for him to be able to extend his goal streak to 6 games.
This is a photo i found. Can’t find the next frame, but this doesn’t seem a clear offside to me. Yes, the puck is still on the blueline but so is Caufield’s whole skate. pic.twitter.com/AdMHQoOyEU
— Greece Ice Hockey🇬🇷 (@GreeceIceHockey) January 28, 2026
Early in the 2nd period, Cole Caufield appeared to have tied the game and extended his goal streak to 6 matchups with a power play marker. However, the Golden Knights challenged the play for offside, and the goal was overturned.
DANAULT TIES THE GAME AT ONE’S WITH A BEAUTIFUL TIP. pic.twitter.com/ZL1jBTLpt9
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 28, 2026
The Habs would officially tie the game thanks to Phillip Danault just a few minutes later. Danault’s 2nd goal of the season would come after Zack Bolduc shot the puck towards the net from off the wall, which Danault would tip past Schmid to tie the game up at 1.
Cole Caufield scores his 30th of the season for real this time.
He has a goal in 6 straight games. pic.twitter.com/3lidF5l3bP
— William Dubé (@williamdube_) January 28, 2026
Around the halfway mark of the 2nd period, Caufield would get a puck past Schmid, but not before the Golden Knights made a point-blank save on him 10 seconds earlier. The initial chance came on a 3-on-1 where Schmid slid across to rob Caufield. The puck would come around to Mike Matheson, who would feed Noah Dobson for a scoring chance. On his chance, Dobson would skate into the middle of the slot before he’d whiff on a backhand shot where the puck would bounce over to Caufield at the side of the net, where he would jam the puck in with a backhand by the post to give the Habs a 2-1 lead. Caufield has now hit the 30-goal mark for the 2nd time in his NHL career and was the 5th player to reach that mark this season. His 30 goals through 53 games is the fastest by any Hab to reach that mark since Stephane Richer, who scored 30 in 44 games during the 1989-90 season.
The Habs were able to carry their lead into the 3rd period, but they were challenged early on in the final frame of regulation. Dobes had to stand tall early in the 3rd thanks to the Habs getting 3 consecutive penalties starting from towards the end of the 2nd period to the first few minutes of the 3rd. Thanks to Dobes making big saves, the Habs were able to surpass the danger and maintain their 2-1 lead. The Habs netminder would continue to do that for his teammates, who were working on protecting the lead the majority of the 3rd period.
Pavel Dorofeyev – Vegas Golden Knights (24)
Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/ILbHz8t1SF
— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) January 28, 2026
It wouldn’t be until just over 3 minutes left in regulation that Dorofeyev would score his 2nd of the game as he would tip a Ben Hutton point shot past Dobes to make it a 2-2 game and send the game to overtime.
Just before overtime, the Canadiens would be awarded with a power play to start the extra frame. They would have 1:27 of 4-on-3 power play time in overtime to play with. Unfortunately, the Habs’ top players were passing the puck looking for the perfect shooting lane that wouldn’t come, and they would get 2 shots before the penalty expired and be forced to play at 4-on-4.
EVANS AVEC UN GRAND V
SHAKE AND JAKE#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/C5XmGgfSFc
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 28, 2026
The game would end up finishing at 4-on-4 as there was no whistle between the end of the penalty and the winning goal. This was why a 4th-line centre like Evans was even able to get a shift in overtime, as he and Alexandre Texier were sent out there to prevent the Golden Knights’ top players from scoring at 4-on-4. However, they would be the ones to end the game. Texier would get the puck out of the defensive zone and towards Evans, who went straight to the net where he deked out Schmid, then put the puck in the net with a sliding backhand to give the Habs an important two points in the standings.
Tuesday night was a tough, hard-fought win that came thanks to everyone stepping up when they were needed. The Canadiens are now 29-17-7 on the year, with just 4 games before the Olympic break comes. The break will be very helpful to some, while others, like Nick Suzuki, Alexandre Texier, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Oliver Kapanen, will be representing their respective countries.
The Habs’ next game will be on Thursday, when they take on the league-leading Colorado Avalanche at 7:00 pm ET on home ice. It will be another huge challenge but the Avalanche have come back to earth as of late and are much more beatable than they were back in November. With how Dobes played on Tuesday, don’t be surprised that the Habs continue with him in nets.
What were your thoughts on the Habs’ OT victory against the Golden Knights?