Montreal Canadiens HC Martin St. Louis makes feelings known after dropping WC spot in 4-1 loss to Hurricanes

By ARJUN B

Modified Mar 29, 2025 06:45 GMT

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The Montreal Canadiens dropped out of a wild card spot after losing 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. The loss was the Canadiens' fifth in a row, dropping their record to 33-30-9.

Montreal got off to a fast start with Josh Anderson finding the back of the net just 23 seconds in, but after that, it was all Hurricanes. Jackson Blake, Taylor Hall, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov each scored to complete a four-goal run and hand the Canadiens a tough loss.

Montreal remains at 75 points, tied with Columbus for the final wild card spot in the East. The Blue Jackets, however, hold the edge with a game in hand.

Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis voiced his frustration with the result but saw some positives in his team's play.

"We were able to manage their pressure. We’ve been in this building before, and obviously we haven’t had the result here. But I still felt it was better than in the past. It just wasn’t good enough," St. Louis said.

When asked about creating more offensive pressure, St. Louis commented:

"I mean, there's not one way to establish it, you know, I think not every team will play the same way in front of you, so you have to attack the holes that the structure give you and come with balance up the ice and put good pucks."

Despite the recent slide, Montreal still has a chance to get back into a playoff position with 10 games left. The Canadiens will look to reverse their fortunes when they take on the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.

Game Recap: Canadiens 4-1 loss to Hurricanes

Montreal opened the scoring just 23 seconds in, with Brendan Gallagher feeding Josh Anderson in the slot for a quick one-timer. Carolina responded almost immediately at 41 seconds when Jaccob Slavin’s shot took a pair of deflections, bouncing off Blake and then Nick Suzuki before slipping through Montembeault.

“You can’t dwell on it. To say we would be in this position at the start of the year, we’d grab it. Every game matters, every game counts,” Canadiens forward Cole Caufield said.

Taylor Hall scored in the second period with a power-play goal, a one-timer from the left side at 13:46. Sebastian Aho buried a 2-on-1 feed from Seth Jarvis to make it 3-1. Andrei Svechnikov sealed the game with an empty-netter in the final minute.