Ad Blocker Placeholder

Montembeault sensational in loss to Jets, key to Canadiens' vibe remaining positive

The Montreal Canadiens are returning home with five out of eight available points banked on their road trip through Buffalo, St. Louis, Minnesota and Winnipeg, and Samuel Montembeault is the biggest reason for it.

He deserved better in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Jets on Thursday, especially after Blake Wheeler’s goal in the second period was allowed to stand despite him pushing Montembeault out of position and leaving him helpless to make a save on the play.

The 26-year-old goaltender was anything but helpless the rest of the night, making 33 saves, with his very best ones coming while the game was tied 2-2 late in the third period and early in overtime.

Without Montembeault’s 43 saves in an opening win over the Sabres last week—a game Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis later referred to as one he didn’t like from his team—this road trip would’ve started off on the wrong foot. He was great in that one and absolutely spectacular on Thursday in Winnipeg.

With so much focus on the young Canadiens defencemen developing, and the rest of the attention seemingly always centred on 23-year-old captain Nick Suzuki and 21-year-old sniper Cole Caufield, who each had two points against the Jets to continue on producing over a point per game through the first 11 of the season, little mind has been paid to Montembeault’s progress thus far.

But it’s not to be undersold in an organization hoping for long-term solutions at the position, with franchise goaltender Carey Price sidelined indefinitely and unlikely to resume his NHL career at any point over his remaining four seasons under contract.

Not to suggest Montembeault is going to develop into a goaltender who can replace Price, but the Canadiens would love to see him emerge as a player who can give them a chance to win on any given night as they move along without Price. And that’s exactly what the Beaucancour, Que., native, who signed a two-year, $2-million contract this past off-season, has done so far.

Montembeault made 26 saves in his first start of the season and gave the Canadiens an opportunity to stay in a game they didn’t score in versus the Washington Capitals back on Oct. 15. He then made another 26 in an overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Bell Centre on Oct. 17.

Montembeault was otherworldly in Buffalo, and he was somehow even better in Winnipeg, where shots from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kyle Connor got the best of him.

Jets' Connor snipes top shelf beauty past Canadiens' Montembeault for OT-winner
Watch as Winnipeg Jets' Kyle Connor finishes off a slick passing sequence in the offensive zone sniping a top shelf beauty past Montreal Canadians goalie Sam Montembeault for the overtime game-winner.
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected

      They were shots that would’ve beaten the best goaltenders in the league.

      St. Louis told reporters after the game he felt he had a good chance to win the challenge on Wheeler’s goal and—without saying he disagreed with the final decision from the NHL war room in Toronto—joked he thought the officials felt bad it went against him and cut the Jets’ ensuing power play short by calling a penalty on Sam Gagner on a play he wasn’t sure deserved one.

      Montembeault shook off the goal and came up huge to keep the game tied and get the Canadiens to overtime.

      “He’s been great,” Suzuki said during his post-game scrum. “Comes in every time his number’s called and plays great goaltending.”

      That wasn’t at all the case a season ago, when Montembeault came to the Canadiens via waivers and posted a 3.77 goals-against average and an .891 save percentage—numbers over 38 games that were totally on par with the ones he posted in his first 25 in the league with the Florida Panthers.

      But the Canadiens have needed Montembeault to do his job this season to help them keep the good vibes of their encouraging start intact, and he’s done more than just that.

      His save on Connor’s fifth shot of the night—Winnipeg’s 30th on net—was a beauty, and he followed it up by absolutely stoning Wheeler with 5:36 to play in the third.

      Montembeault then swallowed a wide-open shot from the slot from Dylan DeMelo with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.

      And just 1:03 into overtime, he came scrambling across his crease and made a diving blocker save on Mark Scheifele that was highlight-of-the-night material.

      He deserved to be satisfied with his performance, and certainly satisfied with how his season has gone to date.

      “It’s going well,” Montembeault said. “I think, last year, I was trying to work on my consistency, and now it’s been a few games in a row that have been good. So, I’m happy about that.”

      He left Winnipeg with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage through four starts, and the Canadiens left there thanking him for another point earned in the standings and feeling like this was a successful road trip.

      NHL NEWS

      More Headlines

      COMMENTS

      When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.