(Montreal) The Canadian had focused on his defensive game during a good part of camp and his work was put to the test during his first match in the regular calendar.
Cole Caufield scored on the power play in the first period, then the Montreal team defended well for the rest of the game to finally win 1-0 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday evening at the Bell Centre.
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The Canadian (1-0-0) had not scored a goal in 30 power play opportunities during the preparatory calendar. He was 1-for-5 Wednesday night.
This goal was enough, since Samuel Montembeault was perfect against the Maple Leafs’ 47 shots and achieved a second career shutout. He was also lucky on a few occasions, as the visitors hit the posts around him three times in the second half.
The Canadian had only two shutouts last season. The first was successful at 53e match.
He also ended a streak of five losses against the Maple Leafs (0-4-1).
Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves in front of the Maple Leafs net (0-1-0). Maple Leafs number 1 goaltender Joseph Woll was not in uniform. He is bothered by stiffness in his lower body.
The Canadian will be back in action on Thursday evening, when he visits the Boston Bruins.
A good suspense
After a presentation of the players on the traditional “Fix You” by Coldplay, but this time performed in particular by members of the Orchester métropolitain de Montréal, the Canadian quickly threatened during a stupid punishment against Max Domi.
Nick Suzuki fired a dangerous one-timer, but Stolarz made the save.
It was during its second power play that the Habs opened the scoring at 7:48. After two great chances from Alex Newhook, the first unit hit the mark. Caufield completed a nice passing game started by Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky.
Dach amassed a 100e career NHL points streak.
Montembeault stood out at the end of the period. He conceded a return in the slot on a seemingly harmless shot from Ryan Reaves and he was alert to stop Steven Lorentz’s throw.
The Maple Leafs were more threatening in the second period, having a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal, not counting shots from William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Jake McCabe that hit the posts around Montembeault.
The Habs goalkeeper was particularly agile at the expense of Matthews and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
At the other end of the ice, Stolarz made his best save at the expense of Christian Dvorak, who stood out behind the defenders in blue.
The Maple Leafs bottled up the Canadian in his territory at the start of the third period, but he was unable to generate any real quality chances.
The Habs then got a few opportunities to widen the gap. Newhook was notably frustrated by Stolarz, when he appeared alone in front of the Leafs goaltender.
The Maple Leafs tried everything late in the game, replacing Stolarz with an extra attacker. However, Montembeault closed the door.