Martin St. Louis speaks up after a tough loss in Game 4.
The Montreal Canadiens are facing early elimination from the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, as they are just a loss away from packing their bags for the offseason.
The Habs suffered a 5-2 loss at the hands of Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals Sunday night at Bell Centre in Montreal, putting the Canadiens in a 3-1 series hole against the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Canadiens' loss in Game 4 was understandably a tough one to accept for Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis. But the way the officials called the game seemingly made it harder for St. Louis and the Habs to swallow the defeat.
“I'll be careful with my words, but it's hard to watch some of these calls,” St. Louis said after the game, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). “Tonight, the mandate was about embellishing. Kent [Hughes, Montreal's general manager] talks with the supervisor each game day. We are told the things they want to clean up. Embellishment was one of them.”
Also not happy with the body of work by the refs in Game 4 was Canadiens netminder Jakub Dobes.
“I don't want to point fingers,” Dobes shared. “I never, ever do that. As a hockey player, I've never ever done it. I don't want to be specific about who could be better. I just hope we don't get these referees in Washington, that's it. I'm not going to point fingers.”
Dobes was disappointed with Ovechkin's hit on Canadiens center Jake Evans in the second period. Ovechkin was slapped with a two-minute minor penalty, which Montreal capitalized on by scoring a power-play goal, but Dobes said that he wanted a harsher punishment for the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer.
“I seriously don't understand why it happened,” Dobes stated. “I feel like the game was pretty much over when Ovi [Ovechkin] took a hit on Jake. I think it was at least [worth] a suspension for a game, but I guess not.”
The Canadiens had a gusty showing in Game 4 despite the blowout nature of the final score. After Washington opened up the scoring with a Dylan Strome goal in the second period, Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield scored a goal each on the man advantage to give the Canadiens a one-goal lead heading into the third frame. But the Caps dominated in the third period with four goals in a row, including two empty-netters.
Montreal will look to keep its season alive in Game 5, while Washington aims to close the series out on Wednesday at Capital One Arena in D.C.
