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Canadiens Highlights: Goal Bonanza In San Jose

March 4, 2026 · Yahoo Sport
Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens were in California on Tuesday night, facing Macklin Celebrini and the exciting San Jose Sharks.

As expected, the young star made his mark, helping the Sharks emerge with a 7-5 win in a chaotic, goal-filled game.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

Rookie Impact

Oliver Kapanen opened the scoring with a shot that took a fortuitous deflection, but as we all know, they don’t ask how, they just ask how many.

And for the record, that was his 19th goal of the year, an incredibly impressive production rate, all things considered.

I’ve been somewhat critical of his usage as the second-line centre, mostly due to the poor underlying numbers he produces alongside Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky. In an ideal world, the second line would feature a centre who can help the team maintain a positive share of the possession, but this is not an ideal world, and no one can deny Kapanen is doing a good job finishing plays.

In this sequence, not only did he score, but he also quickly made his way through the neutral zone, showing great speed in transition before generating a controlled entry into the offensive zone. The Canadiens tend to struggle in transition, making this a very encouraging play by the 22-year-old Finn.

Unfortunately for the Canadiens, their first line let them down shortly afterwards, with all three forwards failing to intercept the puck before Collin Graf scored his 16th goal of the year.

Tertiary Scoring

The Canadiens held a slight edge in shots and high-danger scoring chances, a situation that can backfire if they did not manage to find the back of the net and establish another one-goal lead.

Rather than depending on the top six, which is often the case for the Habs, it was the third line that broke the tie, with centre Phillip Danault tipping the point shot to score his fourth goal of the season.

The Sharks immediately responded, tying the game at 2-2 when the Habs put together yet another defence-optional shift, a recurring theme this season.

We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat

San Jose took over the game midway through the second, punctuated by Celebrini’s 30th goal of the season, a solid shot that fooled Jakub Dobes a little too easily. The home team would go on to establish a 4-2 lead late in the second period, via Alexander Wennberg.

With Josh Anderson in the box for a completely unnecessary roughing penalty, San Jose extended their lead to three goals, via a powerplay goal by Will Smith, his 19th of the year.

Another Comeback? In This Economy?

The Habs returned the favour early in the third period, when Ivan Demidov scored his 13th goal of the year, a powerplay marker.

Alex Newhook followed suit, scoring a crucial goal just 18 seconds later. Without trying to remove too much credit from road team, it was clear that the Sharks attempted to rest on their laurels, the ultimate hockey sin, especially in the third period.

The Canadiens completed the comeback midway through the third, with yet another goal from Newhook. Even though he missed significant time with an ankle injury that required surgical intervention, Newhook has not skipped a beat since re-joining his team.

Things got heated once the goals started flowing, though it must be said Dobes is lucky not to have penalized for his slash late in the third, despite the fact that a Sharks player made heavy contact twice in short order.

Last Goal Wins

The Canadiens continued to show the same discipline as a ravenous bear that broke into a honey factory, taking a too many men penalty late in the third. This gave the Sharks a perfect opportunity to secure the win, and they quickly seized their chance, thanks to Kiefer Sherwood’s first goal with his new team.

The Montreal Canadiens will be back in action on Friday, facing the Ducks in Anaheim. The puck drop is scheduled for 9 pm ET.

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

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