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It has become an NHL tradition a team’s player of the game after victories is presented with some kind of prop in the locker room.
For the Canadiens this season, it’s a wolf head hat.
“I found it online,” captain Nick Suzuki said. “Marty (St. Louis) talks about having a pack mentality, so wolf’s a big theme.”
Jake Evans got the hat after scoring in overtime Tuesday night as the Canadiens beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 at the Bell Centre. The player who has the hat gets to pick who gets it next and Evans chose Suzuki after the captain scored two goals and added an assist in Thursday night’s 7-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche at the Bell Centre.
St. Louis really enjoys watching the players give out the hat after wins.
“I think they celebrate together and they honour someone,” the head coach said. “So I think that brings camaraderie. I think they have a lot of fun with that and they’re all moments that help build cultures.
Victoire décisive.Statement win.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/B9apQOyK1w— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 30, 2026
“I love the game and playing … it’s unbelievable out there in front of 20,000 fans, doing the things you love,” added St. Louis, who had a 16-year Hall of Fame playing career. “But I feel like the moments I miss most about the game is that. After the game. That five, six minutes before you guys (the media) come in … I miss probably that the most.
“They pick that,” St. Louis added about the player who gets the hat. “That’s them being creative. Creating that … so it’s fun to see.”
Tough part of job
St. Louis was involved in the decision to fire Eric Raymond as goalie coach on Wednesday — along with president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes.
But it wasn’t easy for St. Louis since it was the first time he experienced a firing with the Canadiens since becoming an NHL head coach four years ago. After the Canadiens hired him to replace Dominique Ducharme on Feb. 9, 2022, St. Louis kept assistant coaches Trevor Letowski, Alex Burrows and Luke Richardson, along with Raymond.
Richardson left Montreal after the 2021-22 season to become head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks and was replaced by Stéphane Robidas. Burrows stepped down as an assistant coach after the 2023-24 season for family reasons and remains with the Canadiens as a player development consultant.
St. Louis didn’t want to get into details about his input into the firing of Raymond, noting it’s part of the business, but there’s nothing fun about it. He added as a young coach it was hard to see someone like Raymond lose his job from a human side of things, noting his staff is very close and likes to work together as a team.
“It’s not one person that’s responsible,” St. Louis said about the Canadiens’ goaltending problems this season. “We all have responsibility in this. It’s an organizational decision.
“I said it before, it’s the one position that I don’t really know,” St. Louis said about goaltending. “I would have to watch like 10,000 hours and really dive in to really understand what this (goalie) coach does well, what this coach does well. Me, I don’t know Marco that way. But I think he’s got a great track record, he’s done some great work, he knows the goalies.
“I think it’s an easy transition for the organization and we’ll see where it goes, where it leads,” St. Louis added. “But, in the meantime, he’s going to be helping our goalies here.”
The new guy
I never got to know Raymond — the Canadiens almost never make assistant coaches or goalie coaches available to the media — and I also don’t know Marciano.
But Raymond certainly looked like a serious guy and I don’t remember ever seeing him smile on the ice or when we’d cross paths at the Bell Centre.
So I found it interesting what Jakub Dobes said after making 26 saves in Thursday night’s win over the Avalanche when asked what Marciano’s main message to him was after getting the job.
“Have fun,” Dobes said. “That’s it.
“He did give me a good pre-scout,” Dobes added. “He came up to me during intermissions, too, when he saw something after first (period), which I feel was really helpful. He doesn’t usually do that. We’re just having fun and when he saw something that can help me in the second and third he just told me. It’s try to make it simple as possible right now. We have a lot of days ahead of us, so he doesn’t want to put a lot of thoughts in my brain. He just wants me to play.”
It was the second straight win for Dobes after he made 32 saves in Tuesday night’s win over Vegas. Dobes has a 7-0-1 record in his last eight games and his season record is 17-5-3 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage.
Le nouvel entraîneur des gardiens, Marco Marciano, au travail avec Samuel Montembeault et Jakub Dobes@RDSca pic.twitter.com/UdClO6DXPd— Patrick Friolet (@PFrioletRDS) January 28, 2026
The Canadiens selected Dobes in the fifth round (136th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft.
“We’ve been together for a long time,” Dobes said about Marciano. “I feel like he kind of made the goalie who I am today. A lot of stuff he taught me when I was 20, 21, I still remember till this day and I’m almost 25. He’s a really smart guy and I’m excited to pick his brain and he will pick my brain. We have a good relationship, so I’m just excited to get going. It will be all good.
“He’s a funny guy,” Dobes added. “So he just makes me feel like I have a better mood. He’s kind of like, I wouldn’t say a second dad, but he’s on my ass a lot. He’s great. He understands me really well and I’m just excited to get on the same page as him and hopefully we’ll be even better.”
Dobes definitely deserves a third straight start when the Canadiens play the Sabres on Saturday in Buffalo
(7 p.m., SNE, City, TVA Sports).
“Whatever the coaches decide to do I’m happy as long as we win and make a team progression going forward,” Dobes said. “It’s all about the team. Whenever my name is getting called I’m ready to go.”
In his own little world
I get a kick out of watching Dobes on the ice from the press box during TV timeouts at the Bell Centre.
While most goalies go to the bench during those breaks, Dobes stays in his own little world near his net, visualizing saves with movements and also doing some stretching.
“I started doing it in the juniors,” Dobes said. “I wouldn’t comment why I started doing it, that’s a personal story. But I started doing it in junior and I feel like I kind of started developing the routine to stay more dialled in and if I feel like I made a mistake I try to fix it and just try to do the movements over and over and work on my technical and mental game. I like my routine so far.”
I love watching #Habs goalie Jakub Dobes during TV timeouts. He never goes to the bench. Just lives in his own little world staying focused on the job. pic.twitter.com/2Z2swhVAn0— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) January 30, 2026
There’s a lot of noise during TV timeouts at the Bell Centre, whether it’s loud music, fans doing the wave, chanting “Olé! Olé! Olé!” or singing along to John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads, or Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. But Dobes is able to tune it all out.
It’s singalong time at Bell Centre #Habs pic.twitter.com/4mf5rwXESE— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) January 30, 2026
“I remember the first time I was playing here I was definitely not as mature and prepared as I am now,” he said. “It’s really good what the fans do, it’s just for me as a goalie I cannot get really into my head because you can easily get out of your game and start focusing on what’s going on. So for me I try to enjoy it for a couple of seconds, but I feel like if I’m more dialled in on the play it just makes me a better goalie and my job is to give the team a chance to win.
“So I just got to do my job,” he added. “One day, when I retire, I can go watch and enjoy all of this.”
A family affair
Life is good these days for the Canadiens’ Mike Matheson — both on and off the ice.
The 31-year-old has been the Canadiens’ best overall defenceman this season and at the end of November signed a five-year, US$30-million contract extension that runs through the 2030-31 season. The new contract also includes a no-movement clause for the first three years, which gives Matheson and his family some security and they can go ahead with some home renovations they had been holding off.
Matheson’s wife, Emily Pfalzer, won a hockey gold medal as a defenceman with Team USA at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, beating Team Canada 3-2 in a shootout in the final. She also won gold medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. The couple has two young children — Hudson and Mila.
After practice Monday in Brossard, Matheson took 4-year-old Hudson on the ice with him.
Un peu de temps supplémentaire avec mini MikePost-practice sesh with mini Mike#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/dRH8LZPhXb— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 26, 2026
I mentioned to Matheson after practice Wednesday that life must be good for his family now.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said with a big smile. “It’s crazy how much he’s grown up over this year and same with my daughter. She’s one-and-a-half now. It seems like both of them are just growing every day and learning new things. There’s nothing better than being a parent.”
The Canadiens social media team got a great video of Matheson’s daughter blowing him kisses from behind the glass during a recent pre-game warmup.
“It’s hard to put in words what that feels like and to be able to get something like that on video, too, is really cool,” Matheson said. “That’s something I’ll watch for the rest of my life.”
Bin làààà 🥹Not the lil kiss https://t.co/3ri32QJGMD pic.twitter.com/5D8wBEQ73Q— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 22, 2026
Matheson’s wife is from Buffalo and that’s where the family’s off-season home is. Matheson said his wife is enjoying living in Montreal.
“She’s been really, really liking it,” he said. “We’ve been finding different things for the kids to get involved in, which has helped her get involved in things, too. But we used to come back here even before (in the summers). We used to train together in the summer and this is where we’d come. Even though we’ve only been here for a few years as Canadiens, we’ve lived here for probably eight or nine years now.”
Hockey is definitely in the genes of Matheson’s children and his son is good on his skates.
Better than his dad at that age?
“I don’t know,” Matheson said with a chuckle. “There’s not much footage of me at that age. But he loves (hockey). He’s obsessed with it, so it’s a lot of fun.”
Switching it up
Matheson had a new defence partner for Thursday’s game against the Avalanche.
Since the start of the season, Matheson had Noah Dobson as his regular partner, but St. Louis decided to switch things up against Colorado, putting Matheson with Kaiden Guhle and Dobson with Lane Hutson.
The coach wanted to match up Matheson and Guhle against the Avalanche’s high-powered line of Nathan MacKinnon between Martin Necas and former Canadien Artturi Lehkonen.
St. Louis wanted to take advantage of the size and physicality of Matheson and Guhle with the last change on home ice and noted Guhle usually responds well to those type of challenges. It worked as Colorado’s No. 1 line was held off the scoresheet.
MacKinnon leads the Avalanche in scoring with 38-50-88 totals, while Necas has 22-40-62 totals and Lehkonen has 17-21-38 totals. The Canadiens limited the Avalanche to five shots in the first period.
pic.twitter.com/EGqwwJLZKP— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 30, 2026
“I really like what we have back there (on defence) and depending on matchups we’re able to change things up and I think the guys are comfortable with that, too,” St. Louis said after the game. “They understand why we’re doing it and they’re going to still contribute, they’re going to still influence the game.
“When you put Lane and Dober together they’re probably going to get more offensive touches, so to speak, but they still need to defend when it’s time to defend. And same thing with Mike and Guhls, when their assignment is to neutralize the big boys on the other side they’re still going to contribute. They can play offence. So it’s not like we’re just: ‘You play at that end and these guys play at that end.’ We just play hockey, but we know that having the way it was set up tonight based on their lineup I felt like it was positioning ourselves the best that we could and it’s nice to have these options.”
Matheson said it was a “pretty seamless” adjustment playing with Guhle.
“I feel like we just wanted to try something a little different against such a high-powered offence and I thought it went well,” Matheson said.
Dobson enjoyed playing with Hutson.
“That was great,” Dobson said. “Special talent and easy guy to play with for me.”
Watch and learn
After Thursday’s morning skate, St. Louis spoke about how there are similarities in the way the Canadiens and Avalanche play the game.
“I feel we do have similarities in O-zone scheme and possessing,” St. Louis said. “We’re not trying to copy anybody, but we’re trying to grab stuff that makes sense for our group. I feel we have the skill level that can play in possession. I think that’s a group (Colorado) that plays with a lot of pace offensively and they have balance on the ice. They have defencemen that can come up and be part of the offence. I feel like we have that.
“So there’s things that they do that you want to try to add to your game and I feel we’ve done that,” St. Louis added. “But I don’t think we watch one team and we’re going to play exactly like that team. There’s things that can work for us, there’s things that at the moment, no I don’t want to play like that. It doesn’t mean that we won’t evolve and change a few things and adapt. But I like the way we want to play.”
February: bring it on! Monthly wallpaper ↓ #GoHabsGo— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 30, 2026
St. Louis really liked the way the Canadiens — the youngest team in the NHL — played against the Avalanche — the best team in the NHL and the favourite to win the Stanley Cup.
I asked St. Louis after the game what kind of confidence boost beating the Avalanche can give his young players moving forward.
“I think we’re all happy about the result and the way we played tonight,” the coach said. “I think we’re comfortable lately about our game knowing that you got to go earn it the next game. So I think you always have to start over. We’re going to take the day tomorrow — we’re just going to travel (with no practice) — but Saturday you got to start over again. We’re not going to think because we played well tonight that it’s just going to happen. So I don’t think we get caught up very much on the result. I think it’s nice to have a game like that … I think it helps the swagger and I think it’s nice to play with swagger and have that. But, at the end of the day, I don’t think we’re just a group that is result-driven and now we’re confident and everything’s OK. No, we just got to start over.
Direction : Buffalo 🛫 Up, up and away#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/lFT3jqitoW— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 30, 2026
“If you want to keep moving forward and growing you can’t be a transactional leader,” St. Louis added. “I think Nick Saban (who won seven national championships as a college football coach in the U.S.) talks about that a lot. You got to be a process-driven leader and I feel like you can’t just be — we’re good, we won, or we suck, we lost. I think we’re very honest in actually how we’re playing in every department. And then we try to fix the department that we feel needs the most attention at that time. You can’t fix five, six departments at a time. I’m talking the different parts of the game. But we attack those. So, for me, what I like about our group is I feel we can repair these departments pretty quick.”
Highlight of the Night
The Canadiens’ Jake Evans doesn’t score a lot of goals, but many of them are of the highlight-reel variety.
He scored another one of those in overtime against Vegas, making a beautiful move from forehand to backhand to beat Golden Knights goalie Akira Schmid.
Unfortunately, Evans’s wife, Emily Flat, wasn’t at the Bell Centre to see it. She gave birth to twin boys last summer and they still aren’t sleeping through the night, so she’s watching the games from home on TV.
Evans texted his wife immediately after the game.
“I usually check my phone quickly and just check in,” he said. “She liked the goal.
WHAT A MOVE BY JAKE EVANS TO WIN THE GAME IN OVERTIME. pic.twitter.com/Nysf7JzW7t— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 28, 2026
“I told my wife that was a top moment for me, for sure,” Evans added. “I don’t get out there too much in overtimes and usually it’s a D-zone draw. To get that chance and to bury it, it’s pretty cool.”
Did Evans know he was going to make a backhand move?
“No, I’m not like that,” he said. “I was thinking Guhls might be open and that was the initial thought. But I felt like their D-man took him away. I don’t think I ever had backhand planned until I went to my backhand.”
Evans was heading home after Tuesday’s game to let his wife get some sleep and take over watching the twins.
He scored again Thursday night, giving him seven goals this season. His career high is 13 goals.
scowan@postmedia.com
x.com/StuCowan1
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