NHL: Minnesota Wild at Montreal Canadiens
Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, aiming to string together two consecutive wins for just the second time in January.

It was an entertaining game, especially since the officials made some of the worst calls of the season, but in the end, the Habs emerged with a well-deserved 4-3 win.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Welcome Back, Phil

The Canadiens did not acquire Phillip Danault to generate scoring, but most fans were expecting a little more offence than he had shown with the Los Angeles Kings in the first 30 games of the season.

It took 14 games, but Danault finally found the back of the net for the first time in 2025-26 by capitalizing on a big rebound from rookie netminder Jesper Wallstedt. It was a timely goal, as the Wild had taken the lead midway through the first period, despite Montreal dominating the scoring chances.

Bobby Carrier

Speaking of players who aren’t expected to score often, Alexandre Carrier is enjoying the best offensive surge of his career, as evidenced by his two-goal game versus the Vancouver Canucks last week.

He kept the good times going on Tuesday night, scoring his fourth goal of the year, and giving the Canadiens a well-deserved 2-1 lead in the process.

Bananarama

With all due respect to Montreal’s goaltenders, it seems like there’s at least one weak goal allowed every game. We’re not discussing blasts from the point, or one-timers on the powerplay, but rather, soft shots from 60 feet away.

The Wild tied the game at 2-2 with a soft goal by Brock Faber midway through the second period.

Unreal Demidov

Rookie Ivan Demidov tends to overpass in the offensive zone, but we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, because many of those passes lead to fantastic scoring opportunities.

You could tell he was in the zone versus Minnesota, as he quickly generated a pair of high-danger scoring opportunities, taking just two shifts to do so.

His excellent playmaking finally paid off in the second period, with a little help from Hutson.

Not every player has the confidence to attempt a no-look pass, and few have the talent to actually pull it off, but Demidov once again created time and space in the offensive zone with his quick hands, leading to Hutson’s ninth goal of the year, and a 3-2 lead for the Canadiens.

Ridiculous Officiating

Tripping on the blue line is not a penalty, but Eric Furlatt decided to make one of the worst officiating decisions I’ve ever seen on Tuesday night by penalizing Lane Hutson, who clearly hadn’t made contact with any Wild player.

This is very different from a missed call, or a questionable penalty.

This was a perfect example of a referee inventing a penalty. There’s no way the referees saw Hutson make contact, therefore, the only logical conclusion is that they saw a player fall, and penalized the closest Hab.

To make matters worse, this is not the first time the Habs have been victimized by a ghost call this month. On two previous occasions, Danault had to sit in the box for penalties that never took place.

No one expects the referees to be perfect, but fans do expect them to at least witness the penalties they’re calling.

It’s an embarrassing look for the league, and it makes defending the officiating from the sea of criticism they face on a nightly basis rather difficult.

To make matters worse, Hutson was the victim of yet another ghost call in the third period, which was the catalyst to Minnesota’s game-tying goal, which, of course, came on the powerplay.

Twice in the same game, the referees decided to penalize one of Montreal’s best players, despite no penalty taking place.

You never want to attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence, but this is far from the first time the Canadiens have received the short end of the officiating stick this season. It has been a recurring theme.

It was particularly noticeable on Tuesday, as the Habs were clearly the better team, and the Wild were constantly chasing the play. In most cases, this would result in a surplus of powerplays for the superior club.

American Sniper

With just 15 seconds left in the third period, Cole Caufield decided to play the hero role, again.

Team USA general manager Bill Guerin, who snubbed Caufield, had a perfect view of the game-winning goal.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action Thursday, facing the Buffalo Sabres at the Bell Centre. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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