They were two shots that never should’ve gone in, notched within 12 seconds of each other, turning what was shaping up to be a 3-2 win for the Montreal Canadiens into a 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins and leaving Samuel Montembeault yet again perplexed as to how a promising performance ended up as another disastrous one.
This was Montembeault’s 20th start of the season, and his biggest one yet. It was a game to keep the Bruins at bay in the standings, a game to regain ground on the Buffalo Sabres — who had knocked the Canadiens from third place in the Atlantic Division into the first wild-card position in the Eastern Conference earlier on Saturday — and it was ultimately a game that slipped out of his glove and right through his five-hole just like too many others before it.
Oh sure, the Canadiens gave up three power-play goals and, as Jake Evans told reporters at TD Garden, “If you give up three power-play goals, you’re probably going to lose the game.”
But if you’re a goaltender who gives up at least three goals nearly every time you play, you’re probably not going to win too many games.
It’s borderline miraculous Montembeault has a 9-7-2 record on the season, having done it ritually. The No. 1 goaltender has given up three goals or more in 16 of his 22 appearances, and Saturday was the eighth time he’s given up at least four.
That Montembeault allowed four on 21 shots after giving up three on the first eight of 16 he faced in a 4-2 loss to the Sabres on Thursday — and that he lost his first consecutive starts since undergoing a hard reset that saw him spend eight days of December in the AHL with the Laval Rocket — inspires little confidence he can continue to be the go-to goalie for the Canadiens.
Admirably, coach Martin St. Louis refused to blame Montembeault after this loss to the Bruins left the Canadiens just one point up in the wild-card race and six points back of the Atlantic-leading Detroit Red Wings.
He said Fraser Minten was the beneficiary of a good bounce when the puck was stripped from him but landed right back on his stick before his backhand went right through Montembeault’s arm and body for the goal that made it 3-3 in the 14th minute of the third. St. Louis added that the one-timer Bruins leading scorer Morgan Geekie took from 53 feet away 12 seconds later caromed off Evans’ shinpad before beating Montembeault along the ice.
But when the coach was racking his brain to find an answer as to how the Canadiens were leaving the Garden with zero points banked on this night, it spoke volumes.
So did St. Louis’ actual answer.
“I don’t know,” he finally said. “It’s disappointing to get nothing out of this game. We still played a good game at 5-on-5… Power play was there — we got a couple of goals. It’s tough to explain. We’ll go look at it, but it sucks not to get anything out of that game.”
It was a particularly hard pill for Cole Caufield to swallow, especially after he scored all three Canadiens goals to get to 29 on the season.
“It doesn’t feel great at all,” Caufield said. “This game happens quick and these moments are huge, and these are the moments you look back on and you hope it doesn’t bite you in the ass.”
These are the moments that have made up Montembeault’s season.
They kept him up at night and tormented him early on and forced him to do a lot of soul searching on the quest to redeem his game.
The 29-year-old bounced back up from rock bottom with character and resilience. He returned to the Canadiens after the Christmas break and won four of his next five starts, with 42 saves made in the game the team dropped in overtime to the Washington Capitals on Jan. 13 bringing him up to where he’s expected to be.
Over that stretch, Montembeault looked like the guy who had seized the starter’s role two years ago. He looked like the guy who helped push the Canadiens to an unexpected playoff berth last season, the guy who was so dependable he started 21 of the last 23 games, the guy who closed out the campaign in fifth place among goaltenders in goals saved above expected.
But the sample was too small, and now it feels like it should be short-lived.
Over Montembeault’s last three starts, he’s given up 12 goals on 71 shots for an .831 save percentage, which is much more representative of how he’s played for most the season.
It’s cost the goaltender his confidence and cost the Canadiens ground in the ever-tightening playoff race.
If they believed more in Jakub Dobes, he’d have been in the net instead of sitting on the bench watching Montembeault’s good work through 46 minutes get ruined in seconds.
But even if Dobes’ 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday was his fifth one in his last six starts and his 15th in 23 appearances, his performance was far from reassuring he’s ready for more responsibility.
Jacob Fowler went 4-4-2 in his first 10 NHL games and showed he can be part of the solution. But he also just turned 21 and can’t be all of it.
Something has got to give, though, because Saturday’s game only reinforced that the Canadiens can’t continue to depend on Montembeault as their starter if they hope to avoid getting bitten in the you-know-what when all is said and done.
