Feb 2, 2026; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) makes a save on Minnesota Wild right wing Danila Yurov (22) in the second period at Grand Casino Arena. | Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
First period
Thirty-eight seconds in, Minnesota scores on its first shot as Joel Eriksson Ek sends the puck higher than Jakub Dobeš’s pad but lower than his blocker on a shot off the rush.
Oliver Kapanen immediately goes to the box for hooking Zuccarello, and a hot power play goes to work.
Phillip Danault races onto a puck in the neutral zone and goes in for a shot. It looks like Montreal is going to be aggressive versus this Wild man advantage tonight.
Noah Dobson gets the latest shot while short-handed. Great kill from Montreal, outshooting the Wild 2-0 in those two minutes.
Montreal is looking good in transition. If not for the goal, you’d say they’re the better team in this game at the moment.
Daemon Hunt has a puck deflect up off his stick and into his throat. He’s a little wobbly going off, and hopefully the medical staff can get him some quick attention.
Brendan Gallagher gets the puck behind the net with space open to him, but was too excited to score a goal for the first time since January 13 and shot it before getting above the goal line.
Another aggressive shift from Juraj Slafkovský’s line, just giving the opposing defence zero time to hold a puck before coming under pressure.
A couple of point-blank chances for Matt Boldy, but Dobeš denies both.
Now it’s the Wild’s turn to carry the play for a bit. The defence is holding to keep the puck on the perimeter.
The defence gives Quinn Hughes too much time to scan for a pass at the side of the net, and he finds the stick of Kirill Kaprizov in the slot to make it 2-0.
The broadcast crew if giving the Wild a lot of credit for containing Montreal in the neutral zone. I just see a lot of interference being run on the players without the puck.
Gallagher was upset with his miss earlier in the period, but he makes up for it with a power move around Hughes and then across the top of Filip Gustavsson to tuck it into the net.
Quinn Hughes gets left in the dirt by Brendan Gallagher and it’s a 2-1 game
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 9:21 PM
The Wild held most of the possession in the latter half of the period. Montreal needs to find a way to cut those presences short in the second so they can try for their own offence.
Second period
A nice shift from the Danault line forces Gustavsson to leap on the puck to halt the momentum. Montreal is doing a bit better getting through the neutral zone.
A number of Minnesota’s shots have come as the Canadiens just can’t make the final necessary play in front of Dobeš to tie up a stick or swat away the puck.
Montreal’s man-to-man coverage just got broken up by a blatant pick on Gallagher. That has to be called.
The Wild get a shot that goes off the post, off the back of Dobeš’s mask, up in the air, and then lays on top of the net.
Just constant picks in the offensive zone for Minnesota now. Why not if they can get away with it? It’s a highly effective way to break man-to-man coverage.
Lane Hutson slides to take away a pass from Hughes. Hughes skates over top of him and draws a tripping call.
Jake Evans get run into the end boards from behind as he goes on a short-handed rush and threatens to cut into the middle. It looks power plays will be hard to come by for Montreal tonight, even for infractions while they’re short-handed.
The refs finally have to call something as Oliver Kapanen gets tripped below the Minnesota goal line going for a loose puck. With how the game is going, Montreal needs to capitalize here.
Just one shot from Suzuki in those two minutes as they couldn’t work the puck past the Wild’s sticks.
The Danault, Evans, and Josh Anderson follow up the power play with some good pressure.
Demidov dangles through the slot, gets 12 feet from the net, and has his stick chopped in half as he goes to shoot. An obvious, automatic penalty. Not in the eyes of these officials.
It’s funny that Montreal generated very little on the power play, but has carried momentum to five-on-five from it.
Kapanen forces his way right through Hughes to beat him to a puck off the end boards for a chance. On that same shift, Hutson makes a nifty move along the boards to create just a bit of space, and sets up Demidov on the opposite side for the tying goal with 17 seconds left in the period.
Filthy feed from Hutson to Demidov and we’re tied up!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 10:18 PM
If Montreal can outplay the Wild for half a period with the long change, they should be able to do the same in the third. A great response while playing from behind versus one of the best defensive teams in the league.
Third period
Remember the incredible start to the third period in Buffalo? Well the Canadiens just did that again, turning the centre-ice puck drop into the go-ahead goal 12 seconds in. Kirby Dach gets it, with assists to Suzuki and Caufield.
Right off the opening face-off it’s Kirby Dach making it a 3-2 game!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Two goals in 29 seconds of action for Montreal.
Expect the Wild’s interference to ramp up to 11 now. It’s going to be a major fight to hand onto this lead.
Dach gets to the puck first in a even race on a delayed icing. The linesman calls it anyway.
The Habs are giving up the zone too easily once again. There seems to be a fear that the defencemen are going to get walked one-on-one.
More excellent work from Kapanen puts pressure on the defence once more, and that frees the puck to Demidov, who gets it to Slafkovský for a pass back to Kapanen and a quality scoring chance.
A little offensive-zone defence being played right now.
Suzuki fires a shot off the post.
Matheson steps up for a hit and Marcus Johansson steps around him to leave Montreal exposed, and Brock Faber takes advantage by going five-hole to tie the game 3-3
Touché. Keep backing up at the blue line then if that’s the alternative.
A quick transition from Hutson to Caufield gets a mini two-on-one for Dach and Suzuki. Dach didn’t recognize he had enough space to pull the puck to the middle of the ice, and his delayed backhand pass is swallowed up by Gustavsson. He needed to be more decisive there.
No need for a stretch pass with the Danault line on the ice. They’ve been doing well in transition most of the night.
Kaprizov knocks Dobeš over after he goalie makes a save, but the puck remains frozen.
The Wild are making a bit of a push with eight minutes to go.
Now it’s Montreal’s turn to hold the possession. Just a quality game being played this evening by both teams, maybe the best of the season.
Montreal is hanging on a bit in the final minutes of regulation.
Hughes holds the puck behind his net for the final 15 seconds, and each team will take a well-earned point.
Overtime
Montreal holds the first possession of overtime, but isn’t able to take advantage.
Dobeš gets just enough of the puck on a Boldy one-handed shovel shot to keep the game going.
Slafkovský responds with a shot at the opposite end.
Kaprizov turns on the Jets and takes a one-handed tap to the stick from Danault on the way by. The ref raises his arm for a hook. I don’t think that needed to be called, especially after what happened to Demidov earlier, but it was.
One last pick play at the blue line trips up Suzuki, allowing an easy entry for the Wild, and the eventual winner for Kaprizov. A smart play since the officials decided early that only one team was going to get penalized this evening.
Anyway, that was an impressive effort from Montreal, fighting through a great team aided by the officiating to claim a point. They can play with anyone right now, and get positive results versus elite teams. At some point, we need to start calling Montreal one of them.
The winning streak if over, but the Canadiens will take a point streak to Winnipeg for the final game before the Olympics on Wednesday.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) They may not ask how, but we will tonight
2) The Wild even have a similar model in Hughes to study, and still let him go to work
1) Your team isn’t going to get this officiating in the international game, Mr. Guerin
