{"id":479722,"date":"2026-03-01T22:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/479722\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T22:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:27:28","slug":"canadiens-encouraged-with-rebound-win-over-caps-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/479722\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens encouraged with rebound win over Caps – Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2013 Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis admitted a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting New York Islanders left a bitter taste with his players.<\/p>\n

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Montreal led Thursday\u2019s game 3-2 late in the third, but the Islanders rallied with the game-tying goal in the final two minutes before scoring in the extra period.<\/p>\n

The way that game ended was a point of emphasis on Saturday morning before the Canadiens hosted the visiting Washington Capitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we learned from that,\u201d said Canadiens forward Cole Caufield. \u201cWe weren\u2019t too happy with ourselves and how we handled that third period (against the Islanders). Obviously, we knew we needed to have a good start and play a full 60 minutes (Saturday).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens entered the third period on Saturday with a 4-1 lead, thanks in large part to Caufield\u2019s two first-period goals, the first of which came just 30 seconds into the game.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen you get a goal the first shift of the game, it kind of sets the tone for the rest,\u201d said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki, who finished the game with a goal and two assists.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a good start,\u201d added Caufield. \u201cWe needed that tonight. It\u2019s pretty cool to get those two early but, obviously, getting chances is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While the Capitals would trim the deficit to two, courtesy of captain Alex Ovechkin\u2019s second goal of the night, Montreal was determined to not let the lead, or the game, slip away from them again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I liked best about the game was how we managed the third period,\u201d said St. Louis. \u201cI know it\u2019s different from the other night because we were leading by more, but they scored a goal to cut the deficit to two goals. We managed it better. We continued to play in the third.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Suzuki was also proud of his team\u2019s commitment to finishing the game properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s some points in the game where we probably were sitting a little too far back,\u201d said Suzuki. \u201cSometimes, you get uncomfortable when you keep losing the lead. I thought we did a better job of not trying to be too safe out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadiens have seen a third-period lead turn into a loss on eight occasions this season, including three in regulation time.<\/p>\n

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Montreal currently sits third in the Atlantic Division standings with 75 points, just one point back of the second-place Buffalo Sabres, who have played one more game than the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

With the Detroit Red Wings just one point back of Montreal entering play Sunday, Caufield recognizes the importance of not letting teams back into games, especially as the team gets set to enter the final two months of the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are very important games,\u201d said Caufield. \u201cIt\u2019s a sprint to the finish line. Obviously, every team in our division has been pushing in the same direction. All these points matter. That\u2019s what makes it fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

HONOURING THE OLYMPIANS<\/p>\n

Before Saturday\u2019s puck drop, the Montreal Canadiens recognized 11 athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. In addition to Suzuki, Tom Wilson and Logan Thompson of the men\u2019s ice hockey team, short track speedskaters Dana\u00e9 Blais, William Dandjinou, F\u00e9lix Roussel, Florence Brunelle, Kim Boutin, Courtney Sarault and Steven Dubois were saluted at centre ice by the Montreal faithful.<\/p>\n

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A thunderous ovation was also given to freestyle skier Mika\u00ebl Kingsbury, who captured a gold and silver medal in moguls during the 33-year-old\u2019s final Olympics.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2013 Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis admitted a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[265,18448,2656,18450,5,264,21,18451,5147,285,4,18452,18453,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-479722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-canadiens","9":"tag-canadiens-hockey","10":"tag-habs","11":"tag-habs-hockey","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-montreal","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-montreal-hockey","16":"tag-montrealcanadiens","17":"tag-national-hockey-league","18":"tag-nhl","19":"tag-quebec-hockey","20":"tag-quebec-sports","21":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116156278385623551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}