The Montreal Canadiens ended a momentous 2025 with a come-from-behind 3-2 overtime road win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Nick Suzuki scored the tying goal with 1:22 left in regulation time and the winning goal on a power play at 3:24 of overtime, something he also did against the Panthers on April 1 at home in the heat of a playoff race last season.
He’s been frustrated with his line’s play of late, and with Alexandre Texier being the latest to get an audition opposite Cole Caufield at right wing, Suzuki’s line had a game to end 2025, outshooting the Panthers 12-1 in their five-on-five minutes.
“I thought he (Suzuki) was excellent tonight,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis told reporters in Florida after the game. “I thought that line played really well. … They had some looks.”
Suzuki’s two goals gave him 32 goals, 65 assists and 97 points in 84 games played in 2025, tied for sixth in the NHL over the calendar year entering play on New Year’s Eve. Lane Hutson’s two assists, including on Suzuki’s winner in overtime, gave him nine goals, 69 assists and 78 points in 84 games in 2025, third among NHL defencemen with one day left in the year.
Those two players connecting on the Canadiens’ final goal of 2025 could not have been more fitting.
VICTOIRE, NICK SUZUKI 🎉🎉
CAPTAIN WINS IT#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Fg6pOtXf5Z
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 31, 2025
That’s not where the symbolism ended for the Canadiens. On Dec. 28, 2024, the Canadiens played their first game out of the Christmas break in Sunrise, Fla., against the Panthers. Despite being outshot 34-25, Montreal finished with a 4-0 win as goalie Jakub Dobeš pitched a shutout in his NHL debut.
Dobeš’ arrival was a turning point of last season. And perhaps Sam Montembeault’s performance Tuesday will be a turning point in this one. He turned aside 28 shots, and more importantly, looked square and poised and on time tracking pucks. The Canadiens need Montembeault to find his game, and a performance like this, nearly a month after his last NHL start Dec. 2, could be just what he needed to do that.
What made this game so significant, more so than the individual performances, is where the Canadiens find themselves compared to the team that played in Sunrise last year.
Montreal at Florida on Dec. 28, 2024
Caufield
Suzuki
Slafkovský
Newhook
Dach
Laine
Anderson
Dvorak
Gallagher
Heineman
Evans
Armia
Matheson
Hutson
Guhle
Carrier
Xhekaj
Savard
Only half of that lineup was in uniform for the Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Montreal at Florida on Dec. 30, 2025
Caufield
Suzuki
Texier
Slafkovský
Kapanen
Demidov
Bolduc
Danault
Anderson
Blais
Veleno
Gallagher
Matheson
Dobson
Hutson
Carrier
Xhekaj
Engström
Most of that is due to injuries to Kaiden Guhle, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Jake Evans and Patrik Laine, but that is still significant turnover. And while the Canadiens clearly miss players like Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia, the ceiling of the lineup they iced Tuesday night is clearly higher.
Noah Dobson had two assists Tuesday and has nine points in his last six games. The only NHL defenceman with more points over that span is Hutson, who has 10 assists in six games.
But it is the youngest players who epitomize where the Canadiens are as they finish the 2025 calendar year.
Late in the first period, Ivan Demidov had a backcheck to negate a Panthers two-on-one break, and early in the second period, Demidov stole the puck at the Panthers’ blue line and forced Aaron Ekblad to take a cross-checking penalty as he broke in on goal. An offensively gifted rookie made two elite defensive plays.
He was rewarded when he set up Suzuki’s game-tying goal by displaying an unusual level of poise. As Panthers goalie Daniil Tarasov scrambled to get back in position, rather than attempt a quick jam play on the short side of the net as 99 percent of players probably would in that situation, Demidov kept his head up and found Suzuki in the slot instead.
The Canadiens have scored six goals this season with their goalie pulled, and Demidov has earned an assist on three of them. As a rookie.
CAPITAINE CLUTCH#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/y4fWbwiB0c
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 31, 2025
On the other side of the coin was Juraj Slafkovský, midway through the third period of a 0-0 game, carrying the puck through the neutral zone and attempting to stickhandle his way into the offensive zone when a chip-in would have been more appropriate. He lost the puck, immediately turned back to defend in an attempt to erase the error and tripped Mackie Samoskevich as he attempted to enter the Canadiens’ zone.
The result of the play was a negative — the situation did not call for the play Slafkovský decided to make — but the decision was the result of Slafkovský’s increased confidence, something that has benefited the Canadiens greatly over the past six weeks. He will learn from the mistake, but the Canadiens have to hope the confidence and swagger at the source of that mistake are not lost in the process.
The Canadiens are in a period of learning, but also in a period where results matter. The feeling Slafkovský had sitting in the penalty box, shaking his head as Brad Marchand gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead, is important in his development. Just as the feeling Demidov had after that backcheck and that steal at the Panthers’ blue line is important in his development.
As the Canadiens close the calendar year, they do so with a 44-26-14 record in 84 games in 2025, good for 102 points, tied for sixth in the NHL entering play Dec. 31. They got there by taking three out of a possible four points in two games in Florida after losing in a shootout in Tampa on Sunday.
A year ago, they swept their two games in Florida coming out of the Christmas break. But it is difficult to look at this significantly younger team a year later and not see a path to real Stanley Cup competitiveness in the near future.
Those two wins entering 2025 were surprising. They felt lucky. The way this team is playing and how they compete against top competition feels more sustainable.
It feels more real.