Canadiens hold heads high after 2-1 shootout loss to Stars: 'I had no passengers'

Dallas Stars' Sam Steel (18) moves in on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault as Canadiens' Alex Newhook (15) defends during first period NHL hockey action in Montreal, Saturday, January 11, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

The Montreal Canadiens may have lost on Saturday, but the mood around the surging team hardly appeared to take a hit after a hard-fought battle on short rest.

The Canadiens fell 2-1 in a shootout to the stingy Dallas Stars, fighting all night long in a tight-checking game against a team that won its seventh in a row.

This after playing Friday in Washington — a 3-2 overtime win over the Capitals — while the Stars benefited from a night off.

“I liked our game, I had no passengers,” Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said. “All the guys are involved, we played a mature game on a back-to-back. Maybe we didn’t have our legs early, but we made enough actions to deserve two points tonight, we just didn’t get them.

“It’s a big point.”

Montreal (20-18-4) lost for only the third time in 12 games, climbing from the Eastern Conference basement into the playoff conversation during the last five weeks.

The Canadiens entered Saturday’s game with three straight wins against Colorado, Vancouver and Washington — and nearly earned a fourth.

St. Louis credited his team’s commitment to its mistake-free game plan on a night-in, night-out basis.

“You can have a really good recipe, but can you keep repeating it? That’s where I think, on the maturity side of things, we’ve taken a big step, because we’re more consistent,” he said.

“It starts with an attitude and a mindset, that we do a lot of things on the ice that don’t necessarily show up here (the stat sheet) but have a lot to do with our success. Actions that might not be ‘fun’ but important actions.

“The guys jump on the ice and take care of the team, it’s contagious, and when you have success the confidence rises, and it starts a lot with consistency.”

Jason Robertson buried the shootout winner, while Jake Oettinger made 30 saves and Jamie Benn scored in regulation for Dallas (27-13-1).

Forward Juraj Slafkovsky said the Stars, who entered with the second-fewest goals-against per game (2.50), represent a team the Canadiens are trying to emulate.

"They're good skaters,” he said. “They don't lose too many pucks on the blue line, they always recover pretty good. Good back check. And honestly, that's the style we want to play. Two similar styles met today, and we went to shootout, so it's pretty good."

Laine again

Patrik Laine scored Montreal’s goal on a 5-on-3 power play 15:14 into the second period. He made no mistake, blasting a one-timer past Oettinger 14 seconds into the two-man advantage.

All nine of Laine’s goals have come on the power play from his “office” by the left circle.

"I've had days back in the day in Winnipeg where it was kind of similar,” Laine said. “It just seems to go in for some reason.”

“He definitely has an annoying shot for the other teams,” St. Louis added.

But is Laine worried about getting on the scoresheet at 5-on-5?

"They all still count the same, so doesn't really matter,” he said. “They'll come eventually, when we work hard and get a lot of chances. So not worried about it."

‘Monty, Monty’

Although the Canadiens limited Grade A chances, Sam Montembeault was solid with 34 saves on 35 shots.

Montreal’s netminder flashed the leather on Robertson in overtime to give the Canadiens a chance. He also turned away all 16 of Dallas’ shots in the first period, including a sprawling save on a dangerous wraparound from Mavrik Bourque.

"Lot of saves tonight to keep the game close, scrums in front of the net, kind of battles in front of the net, made a couple big saves in the third to keep it close,” defenceman Kaiden Guhle said.

“When you're playing good teams, playing close games, you just need one save to kind of keep the game close. And he's doing that for us consistently this year."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 11, 2025.