Canadiens players spark backlash after partying hours following Game 5 loss
Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Jakub Dobes and Brendan Gallagher were photographed at the Luke Combs show in Montreal on Saturday night.
That's less than 24 hours after the Canadiens were buried 1-6 in Raleigh to close out their third-round series against Carolina.
A 5-game exit. A second-period collapse. And by the next evening, the captain is at a stadium concert with a beer in his hand.
The fan reaction online was immediate. Some called it harmless. Others wanted to know why the leadership group was visible in public before the team even cleaned out its lockers.
Then came the second photo. Caufield, laughing on a stairwell with Martin St-Louis, drinks raised. The Reddit caption joked about "the Habs power of friendship and family."
Optics matter in this market. Especially after a third-round loss where Montreal scored 1 goal in 60 minutes and got outshot in every meaningful stretch of the game.
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Suzuki's 101-point season ends with a public hangover
The captain put up 29 goals and 72 assists across all 82 games. He was a +37. By any reasonable measure, a career year.
But this is Montreal. The fanbase doesn't grade on participation. They grade on what comes next, and what the room looks like the morning after a loss.
Caufield, meanwhile, just lit the lamp 51 times in 81 games. The 50-goal jump was the story of the regular season. Twelve of those were game-winners.
Dobes carried the net for 43 starts at .901, which is fine for a 25-year-old still figuring out his footing. Fine doesn't survive a Game 7 run that ends in a 6-1 blowout.
Round 1 went seven games against Tampa. Round 2 went seven against Buffalo. Round 3 ended in five. The trend line tells its own story.
So what does Kent Hughes do now? The core just played its longest spring under this regime. The same core is now trending on social media for the wrong reason.
A Cup contender doesn't need to apologize for going out. A team selling a process to a city that hasn't won since 1993 might want to think about the picture it leaves behind.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 29, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexander Nikishin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||