Canadiens win, but again show when the going gets heavy, they must get desperate

OTTAWA — There is very little for the Montreal Canadiens to take away from their game Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators aside from the 2 points.

They were outclassed, severely outshot, outchanced, dominated in every way. The largesse of Senators goaltender Leevi Meriläinen, who made 13 saves on 19 shots, is the only reason the Canadiens escaped the nation’s capital with a 6-5 overtime win, erasing a two-goal deficit in the final five minutes of regulation before Cole Caufield scored his 12th career overtime winner.

MONSIEUR SAMEDI SOIR

COLE CALLS GAME#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Hpzw7dl6yC

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 18, 2026

Martin St. Louis was happy with how his team played in the first period, getting power-play goals from Juraj Slafkovský and Caufield to go into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. And he was happy with the resilience his team showed in erasing that late 5-3 deficit on a six-on-five goal by Slafkovský with 4:24 to play and a long bomb by Alexandre Carrier that really should not have gone in 65 seconds later.

In between, it was ugly.

“We were dominated in the second and third,” St. Louis said. “We were lacking execution, we were lacking pace, they were playing much faster than us. With the pace they were bringing, they were placing pucks and bringing heaviness, and we had trouble getting out.”

That word, heaviness, looms large in that assessment.

On Jan. 10, the Canadiens lost 4-0 at home to the Detroit Red Wings, who have heaviness in their lineup, on the blue line and on their bottom six up front. It doesn’t necessarily define the way they play, but it’s there, it’s a factor. And the Canadiens had trouble with that heaviness. Thursday night in Buffalo, the Canadiens lost 4-3. It was a game full of skill, well played and fun to watch. But the Sabres also bring that heaviness — Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch in particular — and it was a lot to handle for the Canadiens.

The Senators’ heaviness, again, was an issue, as was the Washington Capitals’ in the playoffs last season.

And that issue was demonstrated by St. Louis’ decision to break the glass.

Whenever things are not going well for the Canadiens, St. Louis has a nuclear option available, and that is to put Slafkovský back on the top line with Caufield and Nick Suzuki. It is as if there is a little box behind the Canadiens bench that says, “In case of emergency, break glass.”

St. Louis did it midway through the third period Saturday, putting one of the top lines in the NHL back together, and again, the word “heavy” was used to explain why.

“I just felt tonight was a heavy game, and I felt Slaf was kind of willing himself into this game a little bit, even if it wasn’t going well for our group, especially in the second and third,” St. Louis said. “I just tried to get Slaf out there a little more, because I felt they were heavy in the corners, and I thought Slaf, that’s his bread and butter. So I wanted to get him out there as much as I could.”

Slafkovský used that heaviness on the goal that got the comeback going, posting up Jake Sanderson in front of the net right off an offensive zone faceoff win by Phillip Danault with the Canadiens’ net empty and tipping home a Lane Hutson shot to make it a 5-4 game.

“It means you’ve got to get s— done,” Caufield said. “I think based on where we’re at in the game, just got to find a way. When he puts you out there, he expects you to do something, whether that’s switching the momentum right away or having a big shift trying to score a goal.

“That’s what he expects from us, and whenever that happens, we’ve got to get to work.”

Is it ideal that St. Louis has to get Slafkovský on the ice as often as possible when the going gets heavy? That he needs to break the glass? No, of course it isn’t. The last two months have demonstrated that the Canadiens are better off when Slafkovský is playing with Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov, spreading their wealth a bit more.

If you need a response to heaviness, Slafkovský is definitely a good option. But he shouldn’t be the only option.

This game marked the return of Jake Evans from injury, his first game since Dec. 20, prompting a lot of intrigue around the lineup decision St. Louis would have to make. It probably came down to a decision between Joe Veleno and Samuel Blais as to who would come out.

Both those players bring a heavy game, but Veleno’s ability to take faceoffs from the left side and his role on the penalty kill likely won out, and the line of Evans, Veleno and Zack Bolduc was pretty good for the Canadiens early on.

But Blais brings that heaviness. He’s physical. He lets the opponent know he’s there and makes them pay a price whenever he has an opportunity. The Canadiens, quite honestly, could have used him in this game.

That left Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher to play with Phillip Danault, a bit of a nostalgic decision by St. Louis, as he explained after the game.

“I mean, there wasn’t that much thought, but I know Gally and Andy playing with (Christian Dvorak) last year, lefty centre, good on draws, can you find something out of them?” St. Louis said. “I actually thought Jakey, Joey and Boldy gave us some good minutes, especially early.

“I know we’ve got guys coming back from injury, there’s probably going to be some juggling trying to figure out what’s going to stick. We started with that tonight.”

Notice how St. Louis never answered his own question about finding something in that nostalgic line combination with Gallagher, Anderson and Danault? That’s probably because there wasn’t much there.

Kirby Dach looks very close to a return to the lineup, perhaps as soon as Tuesday night’s game at home against the Minnesota Wild. He can bring a certain heaviness to the lineup, and his return will force more juggling to see what sticks.

And it prompts the question of whether the Canadiens were better off Saturday night with Gallagher in the lineup instead of Blais.

It is an extremely delicate and difficult question concerning a player who has given everything he has to this organization for years, the most tenured player on the team, a player with a letter on his sweater and incredibly good standing in the dressing room and around the league. There is an intangible element Gallagher brings, an inspirational quality, but tangible contributions on the ice are ultimately what matter most.

Gallagher spoke after practice Friday, when Evans, Dach and Patrik Laine skated with no restrictions, of the Canadiens’ impending return to health. He brought up the internal competition it creates, knowing full well he is part of it.

When asked whether his experience on the youngest team in the league gives him an advantage, Gallagher paused for a moment.

“It helps. It definitely helps,” he said. “Every tough lesson that you’ve learned along the way, you rely on that stuff as well. So it helps. You use all your experiences, and you try to rely on all that extra advantage, I guess, of age, and part of it is experience.”

The “I guess” there was a bit painful to hear. Gallagher chuckled a bit after he said “age.”

There are delicate, difficult decisions on the near horizon with Dach’s return seemingly imminent. If he gets slotted next to Suzuki and Caufield, that moves Alexandre Texier to the bottom six, and though he has qualities that earned him a two-year contract extension Wednesday, heaviness is not one of them. As difficult as this season has been for Bolduc, his heaviness and speed are among the reasons the Canadiens traded for him in the offseason. Veleno, as limited as he has shown himself to be offensively, brings heaviness and speed as well.

Gallagher, despite being an undersized forward, has brought heaviness to the game his whole career. He has a will and a competitive spirit that has always compensated for his lack of size.

But there is only one forward who did not get a single shift over the final 7:35 of regulation Saturday.

And it wasn’t Joe Veleno.