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After a terrible game against the 27th place Sabres on Thursday night, logic dictated that the top of the standings powerful New York Rangers would crush the Canadiens, but Samuel Montembeault didn’t get the memo. The Canadiens came out strong though and forged themselves a 3-0 lead after 23 minutes of play. Fans started celebrating with “Olé, Olé” chants breaking in the stands, but no lead is ever safe in hockey, especially against this young Habs team.
The Rangers got to work and started to pepper Montembeault’s net with tons of shots, Trotcheck and Panarin breaking through in the second frame to bring the Rangers within one goal of the Canadiens. Then, in the third Adam Fox tied the game, but Montembeault stood tall to take everyone to overtime. He shone just as brightly in the extra frame making another 4 stops including two in the dying seconds in which he looked like a brick wall. When the buzzer mercifully rang, Montembeault had made 47 saves, the highest total of his career, but he wasn’t done.
He denied all three shooters in the shootout, reserving his best save for a near perfect Zibanejad maneuver and allowing the Canadiens to sign an unexpected win. After the game, his teammates praised the goaltender, Brendan Gallagher recalling his very first game for the Habs and how far he had gotten since then through sheer determination and hard work. In St-Louis’ media availability, the head coached fielded many questions about his goaltender and when he was asked point blank if Montembeault was his number one goalie, he replied: “He’s playing like a number one”.
The head coach is not in a great place right now because of the menage à trois he’s been imposed. He’s got three goaltenders on the roster, and he can’t let one of them stay on the shelf for too long, as inactivity will do them no good. Clearly, Kent Hughes has received offers for veteran netminder Jake Allen, but no one has met his prize yet. Perhaps it would be time to lower the asking price for the good of the other two goalkeepers? Last night, the Los Angeles Kings announced Phoenix Copley had undergone an ACL reconstruction and would be out for the remainder of the season, could Rob Blake and special advisor Marc Bergevin be interested in acquiring Allen?
While it was Montembeault’s stellar play that allowed the Canadiens to get the win last night, other players deserve some praise. Brendan Gallagher scored a beautiful goal in the first frame, finding himself with both space and time in the slot the winger managed to launch a beautiful top corner shot that beat Jonathan Quick. It was his first goal in 24 games, but unlike Josh Anderson, no one had to tell him to keep the faith, to believe in himself or to pump his tires so to speak, he’s been through it all and he knows how it goes.
Early in the second, veteran Sean Monahan emulated Gallagher and scored his first in ten games to give Montreal a 2-0 lead before Joel Armia scored his second in as many games. The enigmatic Armia really is in the right chair right now, when he feels like giving his all, he can give St-Louis some production from his fourth line and when he’s in one of those games where he’s invisible, he cannot cause much damage in his limited role. Finally, it was Cole Caufield who found the back of the net to settle the debate.
The Canadiens will have a fairly busy week with three games in four days starting Wednesday when they’ll visit the Flyers in Philadelphia before welcoming the Sharks at the Bell Centre on Thursday night and hosting the Oilers on Saturday. With that kind of calendar, it wouldn’t be surprising to see all three goaltenders have a turn in net, unless of course something happens…looking at you Kent!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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