Montreal's biggest moment just got stolen by a controversial call
Another video review. Another goal taken off the board for Montreal.
Noah Dobson thought he had given the Canadiens a go-ahead goal. Then the review came down. Cole Caufield was ruled offside. The marker disappeared.
The clip via Sportsnet went viral within seconds. Habs Twitter melted down. The Bell Centre crowd was deflated in real time.
This is the third call going against Montreal in the same series. Alexandre Texier's stick on K'Andre Miller got the wrong category. Sean Walker crashed Jakub Dobes without a whistle. Now this.
Dobson is Montreal's $9.5 million off-season acquisition from the Islanders. The 26-year-old put up 47 points across 80 regular-season games for the Habs and was supposed to deliver in exactly these kinds of moments.
The offside was tight. The kind of tight that depends on which camera angle the league decides to lean on. Some plays survive that scrutiny. This one didn't.
How much can one team absorb before the math breaks?
The Habs are now stacking losses against the No.2 team in the league. Carolina finished second overall at 53-22-7 with 113 points and a plus-56 goal differential.
Montreal can't afford to gift Rod Brind'Amour's group anything. Cole Caufield has been leading the way offensively with 11 playoff points across 16 games. His blade was the offside.
Martin St-Louis didn't react to the review on the bench. He didn't have to. The video did the talking. The Bell Centre did the rest.
Was the call technically correct? Probably yes. Was it the kind of call that always seems to land against the same team in the same series? Habs fans will say yes louder.
Honestly, this is the part of playoff hockey where the officiating story becomes its own series narrative. Three controversial moments in three games. None going the Habs' way.
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GM Kent Hughes won't say a word publicly. He doesn't need to. The video evidence keeps stacking up on its own.
Lane Hutson has been the only Montreal defender finding consistent rhythm in this series. Losing a Dobson goal just makes that workload heavier from one shift to the next.
The Habs still have hockey left to play. The whistles get louder. The reviews keep coming. The series rolls on.
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MAY 25, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Demidov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Jankowski | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| K'Andre Miller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||