About Last Night: Montreal's season is over, but so is the rebuild
Montreal Canadiens
By
The Montreal Canadiens' surprising 2024-25 season ended with a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena.
The No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference bested the plucky Habs in their first-round, best-of-seven series.
Sam Montembeault remained out with an injury, so Jakub Dobes started in goal. Dobes made 24 saves, including a few big ones.
Alexandre Carrier was rocked by a Tom Wilson hit in Game 4, but he returned to the lineup.
The Caps did their damage on the power play, starting with all-time goals leader Alex Ovechkin off a draw where Christian Dvorak's stick broke. Washington jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than 10 minutes in.
ALEX OVECHKIN RIGHT OFF THE DRAW ️ pic.twitter.com/ydLdZ3YBKc
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 30, 2025
Just over two minutes later, the Caps put the Habs in a 2-0 hole after Jakob Chychrun jumped in from the point and beat Dobes from a pass by Pierre-Luc Dubois. Washington led 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Jakob Chychrun sneaks in behind the play and scores the Capitals second of the night pic.twitter.com/GCMUH93dC2
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 30, 2025
In the second period, Wilson continued to deliver blow after blow to the Habs. He sent Nick Suzuki into his own net with a cross-check, but the team's ironman stayed in the game despite appearing shaken up.
Aouch Wilson frappe Suzuki qui entre en contact avec le filet pic.twitter.com/Lju5NcVSa5
— TVA Sports (@TVASports) May 1, 2025
Wilson did damage on the scoresheet as well. His power play goal at 16:59 of the second severely dampened Montreal's hopes of a comeback. They trailed 3-0 after two periods, and after taking a 9-1 lead in shots to start the contest, they were now being outshot by the relentless Capitals.
Tom Wilson delivers on the power play pic.twitter.com/yapdxiWzZn
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 1, 2025
The Habs didn't quit all season, and they persevered on Wednesday, even as their fuel gauge neared empty. The liveblog commenters had been yelling at the Habs to shoot all night, and Joel Armia finally did just that. He threw the puck on net and Emil Heineman deflected it past Logan Thompson for his first career playoff goal. Habs only trailed by two with 17:20 on the clock.
Coordination oeil-(Heine)main
Hein eye coordination #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/ZTIYF8gCx0
— x - Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) May 1, 2025
They had their chances both before and after pulling Dobes for an extra attacker, but they couldn't solve Thompson a second time. The Caps netminder, who came back from what looked like a devastating knee injury in Game 3, made 28 saves to send his team to the second round.
ONWARDS FOR THE CAPITALS! pic.twitter.com/X0FLiCCQlD
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 1, 2025
While much talk will be about the young talent on the team, let's spare a moment for defenceman David Savard, who blocked his last shots in the league after announcing before the playoffs that he would be retiring at season's end.
All love for David Savard ️ pic.twitter.com/0eAOvaPHBS
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 1, 2025
Right now, it's a bitter pill for the team and fans to swallow. In the light of day, both can look at a club that was mired in the lottery doldrums for three years and left for dead in December. They're the youngest team ever to qualify for the postseason and gave the best team in the conference a run for their money before the clock struck twelve on their Cinderella season.
After Patrik Laine got hurt, they ran a first power play unit where all five players were between the ages of 19 and 25. After their starting goalie went down with injury, they entrusted a 23-year-old with the job, and he kept hope alive even when the more experienced Caps overwhelmed the opposition.
Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, among others, got pivotal first playoff reps that'll come in handy when the team is better prepared to contend. Also, the fact that Demidov played at all this season is a minor miracle.
Barring a catastrophic regression, these Habs ought to be done with the draft lottery and shuffling out core players for picks and prospects. General manager Kent Hughes can enter the offseason focused on adding to an existing stable of young guns that proved they have mettle by grabbing a wild card spot that no one expected.
Are they close to being a Cup contender? No. But after this season they're a little closer to the top than they are the bottom, and that's a major improvement on the previous three seasons.
A huge thanks to the liveblog commenters for following along all season and sharing in the highs and lows. Based on our polling feature used during the game, 83 per cent of them said it was a successful season. We'll see you at the draft.
3. 'It is going to be a busy summer for HUGO. They now know what they need to do to get this team to the next level. Let's hope they can add the necessary pieces so we keep improving next season.' — Bob Taylor
2. 'Thats a wrap on this very successful season, Hutson should be a no brainer Calder Trophy winner. The future for the Canadiens looks very bright, especially our under-25 group' — Ryan Katz
1. 'Last summer I said I had not felt so excited for a Hab season to begin in years. I will suspect that come July, the draft, and free agency, Habs hockey is all I will be thinking of.' — Michael Way
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