Canadiens Notes: Aim at Home‑Ice Advantage

The daily lead story on HockeyHotStove is powered by Benevolent Bakery, by SoShel beverages and by Smokiez vegan fruit choice, dedicated to quality and consumer education. Today’s topic: Canadiens push for playoff home ice.

The Montreal Canadiens are getting ready for a pair of matches this weekend. First, the Columbus Blue Jackets visit the Bell Centre on Saturday. After a spectacular record following the hiring of Rick Bowness, the Blue Jackets cooled off, and have won two of their last 10 games. They need to win to keep their slim chances of clinching a playoff spot alive.

The next night, the Canadiens are in Long Island to face the Islanders. New York also has a new bench boss with Peter DeBoer taking the reins. Similar to Montreal, the Islanders will be playing the second half of a back‑to‑back. They’ll have a slight advantage, playing an afternoon game on Saturday and avoiding any travel between matchups. The Islanders must win both games on the weekend to stay alive in the playoff race.

After officially clinching a playoff spot, Montreal’s next objective is to secure home‑ice advantage in the first round and then chase the Atlantic Division title. Both goals remain within reach as long as they win. The Canadiens need to finish with more points than the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres, who hold the advantage in regulation wins.

Habs Notes

Here are some items of note for the weekend.

The Canadiens are coming off an emotional night on Thursday where Cole Caufield scored his 50th of the season. Martin St. Louis, and Caufield himself both admitted that it became the talking point in the dressing room and players were searching for the forward instead of making the right play.
On the same night, Juraj Slafkovsky hit the 30-goal mark. This milestone received less of the spotlight because of Caufield’s achievement, however it is impressive. Many questioned the pick in 2022, but Slafkovsky is erasing those doubts quickly.
The final individual milestone of note is Nick Suzuki’s quest to reach 100 points. He would become the first Hab since Mats Naslund in 1985-86 to hit that number.
With 14 healthy forwards on the roster (excluding Patrik Laine), St. Louis faces tough lineup decisions every game night. The coach scratched Brendan Gallagher the last two games, and Zachary Bolduc on Thursday. With St. Louis refusing to discuss his lineup choices, it remains unclear whether he’s rotating players to keep them fresh or simply dressing the 12 he trusts most.
Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler are likely to split the action this weekend. Since March 11, Dobes has posted an 8‑2 record with a 1.87 goals‑against average and a .938 save percentage. The breakdown uses that date because it marked the first game after Fowler’s recall and the point when management removed Montembeault from the mix.
The Canadiens are doing what they can to help Dobes stay focused. One of those measures is limiting his media availability. The rookie goalie spoke once to reporters since March 23rd. He won the Molson Cup for March, and the club skipped the traditional pre‑game ceremony.

Rocket Notes

The Laval Rocket kicked off a doubleheader against the Belleville Senators (Ottawa) on Friday. The Senators won 7-6 in overtime in an entertaining game at Place Bell. The 10,243 fans inside the arena saw a typical contest between two rivals that included a lot of goals, physicality, and fights. The two teams square off on Saturday afternoon once again.

Here are notes from Friday.

Joshua Roy and Samuel Blais led the way offensively with two goals and one assist each.
Luke Mittelstadt has earned full confidence from Pascal Vincent. His responsibilities gradually increased every game since joining the team. On Friday, he was on the top pairing with David Reinbacher, and top power play and penalty kill units. The rookie handled the final minute of regulation as Laval tried to protect the lead, and he started overtime with another shift.
Tyler Thorpe dropped the gloves to complete a Gordie Howe hat trick after getting a goal and an assist in a 27-second span.
Sean Farrell recorded two points. He now has 10 points in the last eight games.
Kaapo Kahkonen allowed seven goals on 31 shots. Belleville’s last two goals were deflections from Rocket players. The tying goal deflected off William Trudeau before crossing the line, and the overtime winner went in off Owen Beck after he redirected the rebound.