Canadiens might have lost Game 1 – but they have to be feeling good

It may not have been the result the Montreal Canadiens wanted, but despite losing 3-2 in overtime to the Washington Capitals, the Habs proved they can hang with the best.

Down 2-0 going into the third period, forwards Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, two of Montreal’s best players throughout the 2024-25 regular season, scored with less than 10 minutes to go in the game to tie it at two and force overtime. Alex Ovechkin scored the OT-winner to give the Capitals a 1-0 series lead, but the Canadiens outshot Washington and controlled the pace of play for chunks of the game.

The two teams face off in Game 2 on Wednesday, and you can expect the Canadiens will be motivated to tie the series before flying back to Montreal.

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Canadiens’ Game 1 effort and what to expect for the rest of the series.

Frank Seravalli: This Montreal Canadiens team is not going to be easy for the Washington Capitals to dispose of.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I was going to say, I had this series going relatively deep. I felt like I needed to pick an upset, so I went with Montreal, and I come away from this game feeling reasonably confident that this series is going to go six or seven games.

They were a hair away from stealing Game 1. Even if you go back to the Bell Centre down 2-0, you’re never in trouble until you lose at home. If I’m ranking the fan bases in the playoffs of who should be the most concerned with a series deficit, if you’re the Habs, I still think you’re feeling okay.

Frank Seravalli: Look, they’ve been a great third-period team, they’ve had many multi-goal comebacks. It’s not necessarily a well you want to go to go to all that often, but the fact you’ve proven that you can do it, and you’ve planted this seed of doubt against the Caps, just after one game, I think that’s a pretty positive feeling.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…