Habs lose in overtime in fast past battle with the Wild

Historically, it has been more of “the same” whenever Montreal has found themselves in St. Paul, at least since their last win in 2011, an 8-1 scoreline with the help of a P.K. Subban hat trick.

Although the Canadiens would walk away with a point, they would ultimately extend that streak with a 4-3 loss in overtime.

Kirill Kaprizov had two goals for the Wild, including the overtime winner, while Quinn Hughes assisted on three goals. Gallagher, Dach and Demidov all gained a goal, and Jakub Dobes saved 20 of 24 shots. Dobes has yet to lose in regulation since December 9, 2025.

“I thought both teams played well,” said defenseman Kaiden Guhle after the game. “Tough one in overtime there, got to try and kill that one off. A pretty good player scores that goal, it’s a pretty perfect shot. I don’t think there’s anything we should be too disappointed about I thought we played pretty well tonight.”

It was also appropriate that Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild happened on Groundhog Day because it started in a way that Canadiens fans had seen over and over again. On the very first shot by an opposing player, the puck found the back of the net. In fact, it’s the sixth time this year it has happened.

The second goal of the game came from Quinn Hughes and company putting the Habs d-men in a blender, causing chaos, and an unattended Kirill Kaprizov in the slot got the puck and sent it home

It took veteran forward Brendan Gallagher to get the Habs on the scoreboard with just over a minute remaining in the opening frame. Number 11 drove towards the net, staving off Hughes and cut in to beat Gustavsson on the backhand and closing the period 2-1 for the Wild.

The Wild kept pressing heavily in the second period, with multiple odd-man rushes throughout. Jakub Dobes once again stood tall, including a lucky bounce on one of those rushes with the puck pinging off the post, Dobes’s helmet and onto the top of the net.

From a shot perspective the period was fairly low event, with nine from the Habs and eight from the Wild, with not a single shot on net on the Canadiens lone power-play.

I'll use this section to briefly mention that the officiating was hotly discussed and share this debated "slash" against Ivan Demidov as Exhibit A as to why.

In what seemed like what would be a scoreless frame, Montreal again took part in the last-minute dramatics. Lane Hutson blistered up the left wing from the neutral zone until he was at the near-side faceoff dot, drawing three Wild players with him. With the coverage overloading on him, Hutson ripped the puck cross-zone to a waiting Ivan Demidov, who slammed the back of the mesh with a one-timer to tie the game at twos.

The recently formed line of Suzuki, Caufield and Dach must have felt left out of the scoring as it took just seventeen seconds of third period play to get on the board and give the Habs the 3-2 lead. Caufield tipped the puck in to Nick Suzuki, who, while battling low in the zone, sent a dime to the stick of a charging Dach, who tipped the biscuit home.

Suzuki already had an Idea Dach would be finding his way net front before the pass, saying, “Based on our structure I knew he’s going to be driving the net through that and he kind of called for it."

A team like Minnesota doesn’t just sit back and let the game run away; they tighten their laces and pick up the pace. Circling the neutral zone like sharks and slamming through the blue line like bulls, the Wild pushed the puck through to a streaking Brock Faber, who tied the game with a low wrister.

This one needed overtime.

After some clean looks both ways, Phillip Danault got caught flat-footed defending against Kaprizov, sending the Wild to a 4 on 3 power play. The Wild would make no mistake and have Kaprizov blast in the game-winner.

Final 4-3 Wild.

Shots on goal are also in favour of the Wild, 24-20.

Montreal plays its final game before the Olympic break on Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg.