Are the Canadiens turning into playoff contenders?
It's hard to look any farther for the highlight of the Florida road trip than Jakub Dobes' 34-save shutout in his NHL debut. The Dobes call-up was a long time coming after Cayden Primeau's tumultuous end to his 2024, and it looks like Dobes will find a home in Montreal for the rest of the season and possibly beyond. However, let's not get caught up in Dobes' performance and not realize how important sweeping the Florida road trip can be for the team's confidence moving forward.
It started with the 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers. Kirby Dach scored two goals after a scoreless first period, and Jake Evans increased his goal-scoring streak to four games to make it a 3-0 game. Dobes handled it the rest of the way, and Cole Caufield ended a brief scoring skid by putting the game out of reach in the third period.
It'd have been easy for the Canadiens to drop their second of back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but there is something different about their swagger over the last couple weeks. Alex Newhook broke another goalscoring drought with a first-period goal, and then Christian Dvorak and Jake Evans gave the Habs a 3-1 lead. After Nikita Kucherov made it a one-goal game, Joel Armia and Brendan Gallagher added insurance markers to claim another victory.
The Canadiens have now won five of their last six games and have an opportunity to end their 2024 with another massive victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on New Year's Eve. Montreal is now three points out of a wildcard spot, with 35 points compared to the Ottawa Senators' 38. A lot was made of the "in the mix" narrative during the early parts of the season, but as the Habs head into 2025, that's looking more and more like a reality.
Another underrated part of the Florida swing is how good Patrik Laine, Alex Newhook, and Kirby Dach looked together. It was a line that many people predicted when the Habs acquired Laine, but it took awhile for Martin St. Louis to finally reunite Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky. The reunion of that trio paved the way for Laine, Newhook, and Dach.
So, is this just a hot streak or a sign of something bigger for the Canadiens? Canadiens fans can dream that they really are "in the mix" for the second half.
