Goaltending continues to be a problem for Canadiens in loss to Bruins
Cole Caufield is a natural-born goal-scorer — something the Canadiens haven’t had for a very long time.
Caufield scored all three goals for the Canadiens on Saturday night in Boston — including two on the power play — but it wasn’t enough as they lost 4-3 to the Bruins after blowing 2-1 and 3-2 leads. Caufield now has 29 goals in 52 games this season and is on pace to finish the season with 46 goals.
The Canadiens haven’t had a 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damphouse had 40 goals in 1993-94. Caufield, 25, is the first Canadien to record a hat-trick in Boston since Mark Recchi scored three goals in a 6-2 win over the Bruins on Nov. 21, 1996.
Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for the Canadiens as a team this season. Heading into Saturday’s game they ranked fourth in the NHL in offence, scoring an average of 3.37 goals per game. They also ranked 24th in defence, allowing an average of 3.27 goals per game.
A lot of that has to do with some shaky goaltending.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis decided to start Samuel Montembeault for a second straight game Saturday night after he allowed three goals on 16 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night at the Bell Centre, with the final goal an empty-netter. Montembeault allowed four goals — including three on the power play — on 21 shots Saturday night as his career record against the Bruins dropped to 3-8-1. Montembeault’s save percentage for the last two games is .811. His record this season is now 9-8-2 with a 3.46 goals-against average and a .869 save percentage.
Le souper est prêt! Matty met la table pour Cole!
“That’s why they call me Mr. Saturday Night” – Cole, probably #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/uYwf9HcMu0— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 25, 2026
The Canadiens outshot the Bruins 25-21 in the third of four meetings between these two teams this season. The Bruins won 3-2 on Nov. 15 at the Bell Centre and the Canadiens won 6-2 in Boston on Dec. 23. Their final meeting will be March 17 at the Bell Centre.
St. Louis decided to go with Montembeault for the second straight game Saturday despite the fact Jakub Dobes has a 5-0-1 record in his last six games and is 15-5-3 this season with a 3.01 GAA and a .887 save percentage. Montembeault is now 1-2-1 in his last four starts.
Dans le cours d’aujourd’hui : l’effet CO₂ 🧪
Cold outside, Cole inside#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Qe2Gyzin0c— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 25, 2026
This was a big loss for the Canadiens, who fell to fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a 28-17-7 record. They are tied in points with third-place Buffalo, but the Sabres (29-17-5) have played one less game. The Canadiens now hold the first wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Bruins (30-20-2).
The Canadiens went into the first intermission in Boston leading 1-0 after outshooting the Bruins 7-2 and went into the third period leading 3-2.
The Bruins’ Fraser Minten tied the score 3-3 at 13:55 of the third period and then Morgan Geekie scored 12 seconds later on a power play with Canadiens defenceman Alexandre Carrier in the penalty box for holding.
TOUR DU CHAPEAU, COLE CAUFIELD
IT’S A COLE CAUFIELD HAT TRICK#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/M86nPjhJtM— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 25, 2026
“This game happens quick,” Caufield told reporters in Boston after the game. “These moments are huge and these are the moments you look back on and you hope it doesn’t bite you in the ass because you have the lead going into the third against a pretty good team that’s chasing us, that needs those points. We got to have that same urgency.”
This loss wasn’t all on Montembeault — with three Boston goals coming on the power play — but the Canadiens need to get much better goaltending if they want to make the playoffs for a second straight season. You have to think Dobes will get the start when the Canadiens play their next game Tuesday at the Bell Centre against the Vegas Golden Knights
(7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
HE SCORED!! pic.twitter.com/1fJlZLlZGp
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 25, 2026
“We just didn’t execute plays, didn’t get pucks in and the PK fell short tonight,” Jake Evans, who is part of the Canadiens’ penalty-killing unit, told reporters in Boston. “If you give up three PK goals you’re probably going to lose the game.
“Missed clears, missed blocks, lost faceoffs,” Evans added about the penalty-killing problems. “There’s just a lot. It’s not structure-wise, it’s missed executing on certain details of it and a lot of it was on me, so that sucks.”
The night could have been even worse for the Canadiens. Kirby Dach — playing his third game since missing two months with a fractured foot — went to the locker room with a bloodied right hand late in the first period after getting into a fight with Jonathan Aspirot. But Dach returned to the game late in the second period.
KIRBY DACH AND JONATHAN ASPIROT DROP THE GLOVES 👊 pic.twitter.com/lr54AZfoKC
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 25, 2026
After playing two games on the first line, Dach lost his spot with Nick Suzuki and Caufield to Alexandre Texier, who returned to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury. Dach was on the third line to start the game with Evans and Zachary Bolduc, while Joe Veleno was made a healthy scratch for the first time since the fifth game of the season. Defenceman Arber Xhekaj also returned to the lineup, taking Jayden Struble’s spot, after being a healthy scratch for the previous two games.
“It’s obviously frustrating,” Caufield told reporters in Boston about the loss. “But it’s a team game and I think we all could have been better tonight.
“This was a huge two points that we needed,” Caufield added. “So back to work next week and got to learn from this one.”
They also have to get better goaltending.
