Montreal Canadiens

It was a perfect game for one line. Rafael Harvey-Pinard, and Josh Anderson on the wings for Nick Suzuki was everything General Manager Kent Hughes could hope ...

If anyone had to make a prediction who the top six would be of those eight in three years, it would be impossible to make that call. Justin Barron continues to improve his game in the second half of the season. Add to the mix, Mike Matheson who is young enough to put in some very good years on the new blue line. Still another to arrive soon is Lane Hutson who is the most exciting prospect on the blue line in college hockey since Cale Makar. A decade ago, Harris would have been described as a puck-mover, but to get that designation now, a player must be bringing the puck up ice and making passes at a significantly high rate. Harris will never be an offensive star, but his defence is already that of a veteran in his first year. The centre position after breaking down with the loss of Philip Danault is in recovery mode. Kirby Dach continues to put in respectable shot-share numbers as he transitions this season from the wing. When scouts are watching for what they hope he can bring in the playoffs, they want to see him drive the net and stay there. Meanwhile, it continues to go spectacularly for Harvey-Pinard, who is making the most of this call-up from Laval. Suzuki has been shouldering a big responsibility for the club facing the best centres in the league nightly, playing 22 minutes per game. After a 10-day break, the Montreal Canadiens were finally back at it for their traditional Super Bowl weekend of afternoon games.

Mike Matheson scored the winning goal to lift the Montreal Canadiens to 4-3 overtime decision over the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon.

[Windsor](https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/) [Conservative Leader Poilievre draws large crowd during Windsor, Ont. [London](https://london.ctvnews.ca/) [Man went looking for possible victims of London, Ont. community honours young hockey player who died from cancer](https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/n-s-community-honours-young-hockey-player-who-died-from-cancer-1.6270166) they are expecting Londoners to show their love for the bar food on their busiest day of the year. city has prompted a warning from the local health authority. Fire caused extensive damage to the Super 7 Motel in south London on Saturday. The death toll in Turkiye and Syria from the earthquake that struck five days ago has surpassed 25,000. Canadiens netminder Samuel Montembeault took home the Molson Cup awarded to Montreal’s player of the month. Montreal successfully killed the power play and Hoffman cleared himself for a breakaway. Barron scored his second NHL goal to level the score for Montreal at 4:02 of the final frame. Nelson extended his career-high point streak to 10 games, the longest for New York since Josh Bailey's 11-game streak in 2017. The winger then sent a pass across the crease for Suzuki to put the Habs up 1-0 at 12:57.

Samuel Montembeault's not elite, but the Montreal Canadiens need an everyday goalie instead. He's proven to be at least that.

1 for right now though, considering the commitment the Canadiens have made to the latter. Having effectively been forced into that role for two seasons now, Montembeault’s proven to be at least that recently, proving doubters wrong in the process. At the very least, Montembeault should realistically continue to play a prominent role during it, playing better and better with increasing regularity. He’s also maybe the goalie on this list with the most unlikely path to success, Montembeault included. Similar to Montembeault, he’s been thrust into the position in which he now finds himself due to injury. As Vanecek is one draft year older, it makes one wonder if Montembeault is similarly a season away from taking the reins as a No. Of course, it does present the intriguing hypothetical question: If Montembeault does end up leading the Canadiens to a championship from out of nowhere, would you accept the big-money contract that comes with the victory along with a potential ensuing fall from grace? 39 overall in 2014, the Capitals brought the Czech goalie over to North America for the 2015-16 season, during which he played 32 ECHL games. Unfortunately, having signed him to a six-year, $36 million deal in 2021, the Blues are stuck with him to the point his backup in 2021-22, Ville Husso, despite posting vastly superior numbers and appearing in more games during the regular season, was allowed to hit free agency. [off waivers from the Florida Panthers](https://www.nhl.com/canadiens/news/canadiens-claim-samuel-montembeault-off-waivers/c-326526678). Drafted 88th overall at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Binnington got in only one NHL appearance between that point and the start of his rise to stardom, a journey that includes a 40-game ECHL stint in 2013-14. Now, just to reiterate, Montembeault is not Hasek, nor should anyone who expects to be taken seriously ever compare the two with a straight face.

Mike Matheson scored at 4:38 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Horvat scored a power-play goal with five seconds remaining in the second period to put the Islanders ahead 2-1. "I think we've got to do a better job, especially playing with the lead," New York defenseman Noah Dobson said. "That was their fourth game after the break and that was our first, but that didn't show. "No, that was a great pickup by him and I just tried to get into the rush. I just tried to make contact with the puck." "I put a great pass in his feet and made him deal with it," Matheson said.

Mike Matheson scored the winning goal to lift the Montreal Canadiens to 4-3 overtime decision over the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon.

Montembeault took home the Molson Cup awarded to Montreal’s player of the month. Barron scored his second NHL goal to level the score for Montreal at 4:02 of the final frame. Nelson extended his career-high point streak to 10 games, the longest for New York since Josh Bailey's 11-game streak in 2017. The winger then sent a pass across the crease for Suzuki who put the Habs up 1-0 at 12:57. After a lengthy video review, the officials indicated the play was onside and confirmed Matheson’s winner. After Canadiens successfully killed Mike Hoffman's slashing penalty, the winger found himself on a breakaway.

The Montreal Canadiens (20-27-4) return from their All-Star break to host the New York Islanders (23-23-3) at the Bell Centre on Saturday.

- Jake Evans (Injured Reserve) - Joel Armia (Injured Reserve) - Brendan Gallagher (Injured Reserve) The Montreal Canadiens (20-27-4) return from their All-Star break to host the New York Islanders (23-23-3) at the Bell Centre on Saturday afternoon. - Kaiden Guhle (Injured Reserve) It’s Superbowl weekend, and you know what that means!