MONTREAL - A lot has gone right for the Montreal Canadiens to begin the NHL season. That鈥檚 starting to change.
The Canadiens were convincingly beaten on home ice for the second straight game 鈥 and suffered their fourth loss in five outings 鈥 in a lopsided 7-0 defeat to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
"First period was really good, I thought we probably outplayed them. The last 40 minutes was all them,鈥 veteran forward Brendan Gallagher said. 鈥淭hey're a good hockey team. They took it to us, and it they made us pay for our mistakes.鈥
After unexpectedly reaching the playoffs last season, the young and exciting Canadiens (10-5-2) hit the ground running with nine wins in their first 12 games.聽
They were handled easily for the first time on Tuesday, falling 5-1 to the Los Angeles Kings before Thursday鈥檚 blowout.
Speaking at the general manager meetings in Toronto earlier this week, Montreal's Kent Hughes said his team needed to manage its low points better than last season 鈥 a campaign defined by long winning streaks and equally long skids.
Whether the Canadiens are better equipped to stop the bleeding a year later will now be put to the test.
"It's a long season. There's ups and downs, and this is our first taste of that adversity, where we haven't played a few good games in a row,鈥 captain Nick Suzuki said. 鈥淲e just got to respond to the next game. And I'm confident in our group to be able to do that."
鈥淚t's our first test this year, so we'll find out,鈥 added Gallagher. 鈥淏ut I hope so. We all remember what we went through last year and we know how difficult it was when we let it get to a certain point. So now it's on us to find those answers.
鈥淚'm confident the answers are in this room."
Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, while Casey DeSmith made 23 saves in the dominant outing for Dallas (11-4-3), a reigning Western Conference finalist.
Wyatt Johnston 鈥 with his 100th career goal 鈥 Esa Lindell, Tyler Seguin, Colin Blackwell and Alexander Petrovic also scored.
Habs head coach Martin St. Louis described the loss as a 鈥渨eird game,鈥 adding he thought his team played better than the 7-0 score line.
The Canadiens outshot the Stars 14-5 in the first period and 24-19 across the game. But Dallas struck first in the first period before exploding for four goals in the second.
"I wouldn't say that our confidence is low,鈥 St. Louis said. 鈥淚 still think we're a confident group, we're just hitting a little roadblock right now and it happens to every team and we're going to keep pushing."
BAD NEWS FOR NEWY
On top of the loss, forward Alex Newhook exited with an apparent right-leg injury after crashing feet-first into the end boards in noticeable pain following a trip by Stars defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin 4:10 into the second period.
Team physicians stepped onto the ice to assist Newhook, who needed help getting to the dressing room. The Canadiens said after the game he was still being evaluated, but Gallagher said 鈥渨e're going to be without Newy for a little bit here.鈥
"It was tough. It was really tough,鈥 Gallagher said. 鈥淎 player that worked really hard in the off-season, knew how important the season was to him and our team, was having an unbelievable year. You just feel for him at this point.鈥
Newhook was enjoying a strong start to his campaign with six goals and six assists in 17 games 鈥 easily outpacing his 26 points last season 鈥 while picking up duties on Montreal's penalty kill.
鈥淚 feel bad for him,鈥 Suzuki said. 鈥淗e's off to probably the best start of his career.鈥
CREASE QUESTIONS
The goaltending situation remains a talking point in Montreal.
Backup Jakub Dobes outperformed struggling starter Sam Montembeault with six straight wins to begin his season. Now neither netminder is rolling.
Dobes allowed five goals on 13 shots through two periods to earn his second consecutive loss. Montembeault then entered the game in the third period but didn鈥檛 fare much better, stopping four of six.
"I just felt it was the right thing to do at the time,鈥 St. Louis said of pulling Dobes. 鈥淚'm not worried about their confidence. I mean, they'll be fine."
Dobes鈥 save percentage has fallen to .901 after his hot start. Montembeault, meanwhile, has a .857.
"There's usually a few things that lead to the pick going in the net,鈥 Gallagher said. 鈥淲e'd like to do our job and do a little bit more in front of them to make it easier."
This report by 好色tvwas first published Nov. 13, 2025.
