Montreal has a je ne sais quoi when it comes to goaltending debates. Patrick Roy or Brian Hayward? Jeff Hackett or José Théodore? Jaroslav Halak or Carey Price?
The latest episode of the soap opera stars Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault. If we rely on last season’s statistics, Montembeault should undeniably be the number one goaltender in the organization. In addition, he shone in goal for the Canadian team at the World Championship. But after a bumpy training camp, management refused to formalize his status. Even that she preferred Allen for the first part of the season, against the Maple Leafs, in Toronto.
You know the rest: Allen looked bad giving up two bad goals in a 6-5 shootout loss.
Montembeault therefore got the next start. The Canadiens’ first of the season in Montreal, Saturday evening. “I was nervous,” he told us. Especially since he hadn’t played for seven days. “It gave me a week to prepare, to work on things. I made a video with Eric [Raymond, l’entraîneur des gardiens]. We felt that certain things were missing for my execution to be better. »
These sessions bore fruit.
Samuel Montembeault was sparkling. Twenty-eight saves and three goals saved, in a narrow 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Okay, it’s true, the Hawks aren’t exactly the Canadiens of the 1950s. Nor are they the Red Wings of the 1990s. Take prodigy Connor Bedard off their roster, and he might be the worst opponent on paper in the franchise. last decade. Except that the Habs players, true to their bad habits, made sure that the penalty box always remained warm for the next person. Consequence: Montembeault had to face the Blackhawks’ numerical advantage for 10:24. It’s long. Very long. Especially when the puck ends up on the paddle of Connor Bedard’s stick.
Every 10-15 years, a player establishes himself in the National League thanks to an exceptional asset. Think of Wayne Gretzky and his vision of the game. Mario Lemieux and his ability to control the puck. To Connor McDavid and his acceleration. The strength of Connor Bedard? It’s his sweep shot, which he’s able to change the angle of while he’s in motion. “Auston Matthews is like that too,” notes Montembeault.
As a goalkeeper, if you establish yourself too quickly, he will take advantage and change his angle. Cole [Caufield] He’s really good at that too. Against players like that, you don’t want your feet to be fixed too quickly.
Samuel Montembeault
Bedard had five shots on target, including one that was very difficult to stop, in the second period. Montembeault blocked it at the last minute with his mitt. “He almost got me that time.” » The Quebecer also made a spectacular save against Corey Perry, well positioned in the slot. The Canadian goalkeeper stretched his length, like Andrés Galarraga, to achieve the splits and prevent the Hawks winger from counting.
“It was a good save, even if I was a little impatient. Eric [Raymond] will definitely tell me when we watch the game on video. When Perry received the puck, I immediately went down on my knees. But it was hard to guess if he was going to shoot quickly or try to get around me. »
According to the Evolving Hockey site, which adds up the probability of success of each shot based on their quality and origin, the Blackhawks should have scored 5.25 goals on Saturday night. This means that Samuel Montembeault saved three. For one game alone, this is a remarkable result. To give you an order of magnitude, throughout last season, he “saved” 12 goals in 40 games.
Samuel Montembeault therefore won hands down the first episode of the goalkeepers’ duel. And if he manages to line up a few consecutive starts like the one on Saturday, we won’t have to wait very long to guess the punch of the soap opera.
The number one goalkeeper will be him.