Canadian 3 — Blue Jackets 1 | Should the plan take the edge?

(Columbus) Martin St-Louis says he focuses on correcting tendencies, not circumstantial errors, in his approach with his players.

It will be interesting to see if this reasoning will apply to goaltenders, because at the end of the first quarter of the season, a clear trend emerges: Samuel Montembeault offers the best performances in front of the net for the Canadian.

On Wednesday, he made 30 saves against the Blue Jackets in a 3-1 victory for the Habs. A bit like showing that his misstep last week, in a 6-4 defeat here, was just a mistake.

“Especially when the cannon blows you six times in the ears, it’s hard to forget it!, launched Montembeault. It was a really good game tonight and I’m happy to come away with the win. »

St-Louis, since we’re talking about it, also delivered a revealing answer from the outset to his pre-game press briefing: “I think one is Samuel Montembeault. In other words, this victory was first possible thanks to the work of the goalkeeper.

He’s not wrong. We doubt that defensively, the CH arrived in Ohio with confidence on the ceiling. This team had just been destroyed by Buffalo, and had allowed 26 goals in its 5 previous outings.

Whether Montembault’s performance will upset his plans for Friday in Chicago, St-Louis wouldn’t comment. “We have plans,” he recalled, adding that “performance” can sometimes be a game-changer. “But for tonight, we will savor the victory. »

That is. Anyway, it’s not so much Friday’s game that’s interesting as the general division of tasks. So far, Allen is basically playing two out of three games, and it’s that proportion that will be interesting to watch.

Except that St-Louis uses statistics in its decision-making. What are they saying? That Montembeault has the advantage over Jake Allen so far.

If we wanted to add a layer, we would specify that it was Montembeault who was designated the three times that the Habs played a second game in 24 hours, as was the case on Wednesday. Montreal won two of those three games.

These numbers do not mean that Montembeault has become a number 1 goaltender in the NHL; it takes a more representative sample than seven games to draw such a conclusion. But between him and Allen, there is no picture this season, as they say at the Tour de France.

“Monty has been excellent all season. Every time he’s in goal he gives us confidence and he makes well-timed saves. That’s all you ask of a goalkeeper, ”summarized striker Kirby Dach.

A bandage ?

The hero of the evening had the modest triumph. “I could see the puck well tonight, and in my opinion, Savard too, because he has as many saves as me! »

Montembeault speaks here of David Savard, who ended his evening with six blocked pucks on his record. As he does night after night.

The Canadian has certainly been better than what he has shown lately, but the fact is that he has beaten a low-ranking team which is deprived of a third of its usual squad due to injuries, among which we find Zach Werenski , one of the very best defensemen in the NHL.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Jackets still had a 6-3 advantage in high quality scoring chances at 5 on 5. It was in the second period that the Montrealers were the most generous, allowing not one, but two breakaways in 15 seconds to Mathieu Olivier and Gustav Nyquist.

“It gives energy to the team, it helps the coach to breathe, explained St-Louis. The guards, they put bandages on the wounds, sometimes. »

Indeed, for St-Louis, the good behavior of Montembeault, but he must above all see the tree behind the forest and wonder if the good behavior of his goalkeeper does not serve as a “bandage” for the collective failings of his club. This answer may not come on Friday, since the Canadian has an appointment with one of the worst attacks in the NHL in Chicago.

Up: Sean Monahan

On a line that Martin St-Louis called “heavyweight” with Joel Armia and Josh Anderson, Monahan won 65% of his faceoffs and had a good night. He did not steal his goal in an empty net.

Down: Evgenii Dadonov

He often had the puck on his paddle, but he usually ended up giving it back to the opponent.

The number of the match: 1

For the first time this season, Joel Armia was on the ice for a goal from the Canadiens. It was perhaps in an empty net, but we doubt that the Finn will complain about it.

In details

The end of an era

Like toast and avocado, Kaiden Guhle and David Savard had been inseparable since the start of the year. The two lads had played the first 19 games of the season together, until St. Louis separated them for this duel against the Blue Jackets. Guhle is still paired with a veteran-Joel Edmundson-but he’s now playing on the right. The rookie defended himself rather well for this first assignment on his opposite side. Savard is now paired with the very fluid Mike Matheson. The latter was doing very well until his turnover, early in the third period, which led to the goal of Mathieu Olivier. Matheson was actually playing the way he does when he’s at his best, using his skating to escape the pressure. He did it a few times in the first half. Matheson was only in his third game this season, so it will take a few duels to see him at the top of his game.

The clash of the fourth lines

Definitely, Mathieu Olivier takes a liking to facing the Canadian. For a second game in a row, the strong man hit the target against the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge. In fact, his only two goals of the season came against Montreal. Like last week, he scored again with a good wrist shot, this time from the short side. He owes credit to the other winger on his line, Eric Robinson, who pressured Matheson to bring about the turnover. It was a well-deserved reward for the Jackets’ fourth line, which had a good night. The fourth line of CH also scored, when Arber Xhekaj hit the target on a pass from Jake Evans. It was just the second point this season for Evans, as opposed to Columbus fourth center Sean Kuraly, who already has six goals.

Spectators on leave…

The Blue Jackets have averaged more than 16,000 spectators per game for the past four seasons, but that streak will likely be in jeopardy. Before the game, their average was 15,800, in an 18,000-seat arena, and we confirm that there were a lot more than 2,200 empty benches for this game. Even in the lower bowl, large sections in the corners were empty. The official figure: 14,197. Colleagues believe that the Thanksgiving holiday is not the cause of this modest crowd, since the schedule is generally favorable to families. The team’s poor start to the season (three wins in the first 12 games), however, may not have helped. The Blue Jackets have drawn 18,000 spectators only three times this season: in the opener, then against the Red Wings and Penguins, two teams that are three hours away from here. At least the retro party, where nods to the 1990s and 2000s abounded, provided a good atmosphere during stoppage time.

They said