Bryce Pickford Impresses with Five Consecutive Multi-Goal Games

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, stories, and content you may have missed on Saturday.

Montreal Canadiens News

We got our first idea of how Team Canada plans to use top prospect Michael Hage at the 2025 World Junior Championship. Hage was placed on the second line, alongside Tij Iginla and Braeden Cootes. All three are centres, however, it was Ignla that was slotted down the middle of the ice on Saturday. Hage also practiced on the powerplay, though he was used as a net-front presence.

First practice of 🇨🇦 World Junior camp

McKenna – Beaudoin – Martone
Cootes – Iginla – Hage
Greentree – Desnoyers – O'Reilly
Vanacker – O'Brien – Reschny
Bear – Luchanko

Reid – Parekh
Aitcheson – Brunicke
Carels – Danford
Smith – Verhoeff
MacKenzie

George
Ivankovic
Ravensbergen pic.twitter.com/O6NSJjzXoH

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 13, 2025

The Canadiens decided to turn to rookie netminder Jacob Fowler again, but this time around the result was much less exciting. It wasn’t Fowler’s fault the Canadiens were outplayed by a gigantic margin against the New York Rangers, but it was a good reminder that he can’t fix Montreal’s clear-cut defensive issues. [Canadiens Highlights: Collapse At Madison Square Garden]

Florian Xhekaj went out of his way to defend his teammates on Friday night, but that didn’t stop the league from suspending a laundry-list of Laval Rocket players. Joshua Roy, Alex Belzile, and Laurent Dauphin were suspended for three games due to leaving the bench, while Samuel Blais was given a one-game suspension. As for Michael Pezzetta, the player who started the ugly situation with a blind side hit on Marc Del Gaizo, he was also suspended for three games. [Xhekaj Fights Former Hab After AHL Cheap Shot]

Les attaquants Alex Belzile, Laurent Dauphin et Joshua Roy sont suspendus trois matchs en raison des conséquences de leurs actions lors du match d’hier (quitter le banc des joueurs pendant une altercation). L’attaquant Samuel Blais est également suspendu un match.

Forwards Alex…

— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) December 13, 2025

Canadiens prospect Bryce Pickford refuses to stop scoring goals. The 19-year-old defenceman is now up to 22 goals in 29 games, including yet another multi-goal effort on Saturday night. The overall talent level in the CHL is down this season, but that doesn’t erase the fact that Pickford is outscoring most forwards in the league.

5 MULTI-GOAL GAMES IN A ROW FOR BRYCE PICKFORD!!! 🤯🤯🤯🚨🐅 pic.twitter.com/d0gaJGGXBK

— Medicine Hat Tigers (@tigershockey) December 14, 2025

Sportsnaut Network

The New Jersey Devils might be cursed. On Saturday morning, it was revealed key Devils defenseman, Simon Nemec, suffered an undisclosed injury, and he is going to miss time. [New Jersey Devils]

Three times in the last four games, the Pittsburgh Penguins have wadded up victory and chucked it away like a used gum wrapper no longer serving a purpose. They have repeatedly drop-kicked away wins that were theirs. [Pittsburgh Penguins]

The Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars each had two shots on goal in the opening period of their game on Saturday night. But things got rolling once the second started. [Florida Panthers]

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