{"id":629613,"date":"2026-04-25T08:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/629613\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:26:08","slug":"kirby-dach-montreal-canadiens-linemates-shine-in-game-3-win-after-fielding-harsh-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/629613\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirby Dach, Montreal Canadiens’ linemates shine in Game 3 win after fielding harsh criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 What a difference 72 hours made for Kirby Dach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> forward drew the ire of fans after an ill-timed icing and a defensive lapse in overtime led to J.J. Moser<\/a>\u2019s game-winning goal, sealing a 3\u20142 Game 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> in the teams\u2019 first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

By Friday night, however, in front of a roaring Bell Centre crowd, Dach flipped the script, turning frustration into redemption with a goal and an assist in the Canadiens\u2019 3-2 overtime win in Game 3 that gave Montreal a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you take that night (Tuesday) and you kind of sit on it, dwell on it and understand what you could have done better,\u201d said Dach. \u201cCome Wednesday morning, you\u2019ve got to be able to move on and get ready for tonight\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of where my mindset was. As a competitor, you want to be able to bounce back and put your best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vitriol spewed online toward Dach following Game 2\u2019s loss forced the centreman to delete his Instagram account.<\/p>\n

Many Canadiens fans also took to social media and local sports talk radio phone lines, calling for head coach Martin St. Louis<\/a> to scratch the forward in favour of either Joe Veleno or veteran Brendan Gallagher<\/a>, who have each yet to enter the lineup these playoffs.<\/p>\n

St. Louis, though, wasn\u2019t having any of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to give up on a player unless he gives up on himself,\u201d said St. Louis. \u201cKirby Dach<\/a> is a really good hockey player. Like any good player, they make mistakes sometimes at key moments. It happens to everyone. It happens to a lot of good players. For sure, he was upset but that\u2019s not a reason to give up on a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dach was grateful for the support from his coach throughout the trials and tribulations of the past few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Marty is a phenomenal coach and a great person,\u201d said Dach. \u201cHe\u2019s able to kind of level with you on a personal level. He kind of understands maybe what you as a player are kind of going through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s also able to find ways to get the best out of each and every one of us in individual ways, but also as a team collectively. I\u2019m thankful to have Marty as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dach was also equally grateful for the encouragement he received from teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have such a great group of guys here,\u201d said Dach. \u201cEverybody was lifting me up and helping me out, from the training staff to the coaches. It wasn\u2019t just myself kind of digging myself out of that hole. I had a lot of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadiens fans in attendance on Friday were quick to shower the 25-year-old with love from the get-go. Dach was given a hearty ovation when shown on the scoreboard during warm-ups, with fans chanting \u201cKir-by, Kir-by\u201d both before puck drop and throughout the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really expect it, so it was nice,\u201d said Dach. \u201cThe fans have been unbelievable for us all year. For me, they\u2019ve stuck by my side through a lot. It definitely meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to see the fans really supporting him tonight,\u201d added Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki<\/a>. \u201cThey got some Kirby chants going in warm-ups which definitely would make him feel good going into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was his best game of the whole season. It\u2019s fun to watch him when he\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those chants only increased following Dach\u2019s assist on linemate Alexandre Texier<\/a>\u2019s game-opening goal early in the first period.<\/p>\n

The applause reached a crescendo following confirmation of Dach\u2019s second-period tally, a shot from inside the faceoff circle that bounced off Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonagh<\/a> and past goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> that tied the game at 2-2.<\/p>\n

The newly-formed line of Dach, Texier and Zachary Bolduc<\/a>, playing together for the first time all season, were on the ice for all three Canadiens goals, including Lane Hutson<\/a>\u2019s overtime winner 2:09 into the extra session. The trio finished the game with a combined six points and six of Montreal\u2019s 29 shots on goal on the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn paper, I looked at it and thought that could be a really good line, just with their style of play,\u201d said St. Louis. \u201cThey all can be physical on pucks in the offensive zone. They did that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a trying season for the oft-injured Dach, having scored just eight goals and 15 points across 37 games during the regular season. His offensive output Friday marked Dach\u2019s first goal and first point at the Bell Centre since Feb. 28. It was also the forward\u2019s first multi-point outing since Jan. 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot on the injury front,\u201d said Dach. \u201cI\u2019ve gone through the ups and downs of it and the learning lessons of what it takes and maybe what works and what doesn\u2019t work. I\u2019ve kind of found a recipe to be able to stay in game shape and sharp in the mind mentally and physically be ready to go when it\u2019s time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Game 4 in the series is Sunday in Montreal.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Jordan Stoopler, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 What a difference 72 hours made for Kirby Dach. On Tuesday, the Montreal Canadiens forward drew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-629613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}