This Was So Embarrassing That I Somehow Can't Even Be Angry

I legitimately have no words.

A few hours after watching what was, in my opinion, the biggest single-game choke job in (regular season) NHL history, I am still struggling to properly process what happened.

And I do not mean that hyperbolically.

Before I even get into anything about the Habs, I have to give all the credit in the world to the Winnipeg Jets. The mental fortitude they showed as a team tonight, especially after going through a nine-game losing streak, was incredible. To come out and do what they did tonight is honestly just crazy.

The Montreal Canadiens became the first team in NHL history to blow a four-goal lead with under three minutes remaining in regulation in their embarrassing 5-4 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

It's still just almost impossible to comprehend.

Again, the Canadiens were leading 4–0, but the strange part is that they were not even playing particularly well.

Goaltender Jacob Fowler was the biggest reason Montreal had built such a significant lead. He was making incredible save after incredible save and, once again, faced more than 40 shots.

The number of shots that the team is allowing their goalies to face has become a serious problem.

Considering some of the opponents Montreal has recently played, allowing Fowler to see that much rubber on this consistent basis is simply unacceptable.

The Winnipeg Jets entered this game having lost nine consecutive games, yet they were able to pile up shots throughout the night. Last week, the St Louis Blues, another team that has not exactly been among the NHL's elite, put more than 45 shots on Montreal which Fowler bailed them out of as he recorded his second shutout of the season that night.

The Canadiens cannot continue relying on their goaltender to withstand that kind of pressure.

And yet, despite being outplayed for large portions of this game, Montreal was still winning 4–0.

That is what makes what happened next even more unbelievable.

You simply cannot blow a four-goal lead with less than three minutes remaining in a hockey game.

There will undoubtedly be people looking for one moment, one player, or one decision to blame for the collapse.

I have already seen people criticizing Arber Xhekaj for fighting and suggesting that it gave Winnipeg momentum.

I am not blaming him.

At 4–0, with three minutes to go, the Habs should have been able to handle whatever momentum comes from a fight. Just crazy.

I am also not putting this entirely on Martin St. Louis.

He has spent the season emphasizing the importance of understanding what a game requires from the team, and ultimately, the Canadiens found themselves in a situation where they simply stopped playing defensively and hung their rookie goalie out to dry.

This was not one individual mistake. It was not one bad shift or one disastrous decision.

It was a combination of bad decisions, lazy plays, and an overall lack of attention to detail that allowed Winnipeg to remain in possession of the puck and continue creating opportunities.

That is what ultimately cost Montreal the game.

What makes this collapse so difficult to even comprehend is how much of a historic anomaly it was.

You almost have to ask yourself how many faceoffs Montreal had to lose in succession to allow Winnipeg that much possession. How many times did the Canadiens fail to clear the puck?

At that stage of the game, there are so many simple things a team can do to take valuable seconds off the clock.

Chipping a puck off the boards. Make a simple flip to centre ice. Avoid unnecessary icing if possible. Force the opponent to regroup and spend time retrieving the puck.

Every second matters when there are only minutes remaining.

Instead, Montreal repeatedly allowed Winnipeg to maintain possession and continue attacking.

That is why this was both one of the funniest and most embarrassing things I have ever watched as a hockey fan.

Kyle Connor scored the same goal in the same spot twice in less than a minute!

Unacceptable, yet hilarious.

It was just so absurdly random and historically unusual that I genuinely do not know how much can be taken away from it beyond the obvious fact that the Canadiens have to be better defensively.

Knowing myself, I thought I'd be way angrier or feel more negative, as this is exactly the type of game where you might expect me to think the world is collapsing upon me.

I could say the Canadiens are finished. I could say they are not making the playoffs. I could argue that a collapse like this will psychologically destroy the team, and they will never win a game again.

And results, like tonight, are why I've never fully trusted them to close games out.

But I do not think that is the right reaction tonight.

This was such a historically bizarre, once-in-a-lifetime scenario that I would honestly just throw the film out and move on.

The Canadiens managed to get a point from the game, which is about the only thing preventing the night from being even worse. It was also not a divisional or conference matchup, so there is a good chance that the extra point lost will not directly come back to hurt Montreal in a tiebreaker later in the season.

All that said, that does not make the collapse acceptable, because it is absolutely not.

But it is also difficult to treat something this unprecedented as though it is guaranteed to become a recurring problem.

You will likely never see something like this again.

There are also reasons to maintain some perspective.

Ivan Demidov has been out since October 3rd, and there have been no real updates from the team despite it already being longer than the original 2-4 week timeline they originally gave out, and Nick Suzuki could return as early as Thursday or Saturday, as he has been out of the lineup since October 20th with an upper-body injury.

And despite being without their captain and arguably their most important player, Montreal had won five straight entering the Jets game and has taken 11 of a possible 12 points over the last six games.

The Canadiens have managed to collect those points without their best player in the lineup, which should not be overlooked because of one completely bizarre night.

Against Winnipeg, Montreal was not playing like a connected team. For much of the game, they looked like a group of individuals rather than a team. They were being outclassed for significant stretches and still somehow found themselves with a 4–0 lead.

Then they gave it all away.

There is no defending what happened.

Blowing a four-goal lead with under three minutes remaining and losing the game outright is unacceptable. The Canadiens have to be better at protecting leads, winning key faceoffs, clearing their zone, and recognizing what the time and situation in a game needs out of them.

But this was one of the most historically bizarre collapses the NHL has ever seen, and I just don't think we will ever see that again.

Because of that, I am not going to let an unprecedented 5 minute span convince me that the Canadiens are suddenly finished or that everything they have accomplished recently means nothing.

Flush the film.

Learn from the mistakes.

Get healthier.

Hopefully get Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov back in the lineup soon.

And move on.

They have to better than that, and they know it.

Onto the next.