MONTREAL — It’s a conversation that picked up steam with every win Jakub Dobes collected to start his NHL career, and it hit its crescendo after the last one when Dobes robbed Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin of overtime goals before Patrik Laine beat Jonathan Quick at the other end.
Should the 23-year-old goaltender, whose win over the New York Rangers made him a perfect 5-0, take over the Montreal Canadiens‘ net?
Even if that conversation percolated far away from the Canadiens’ dressing room, Samuel Montembeault surely knew it was percolating.
Still, he ignored it, which isn’t easy to do after allowing six goals and appearing nowhere near the height of his abilities in a 7-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs the night before the Rangers game.
That’s how Montembeault is built. He’s calm, cool and seemingly unbothered by all the noise around him. It’s what makes him the No. 1 goaltender in a city that demands perfection at his position, and it’s what might make him the No. 1 here for Team Canada when the 4-Nations Face-off kicks off at the Bell Centre on Feb. 12.
Doubt Montembeault at your own peril.
The six-foot-three Becancour, Que., native is used to it. He has kicked away doubt at every turn of his NHL career, and he once again punted it right to the corner in helping the Canadiens to the biggest win of their season Tuesday, 3-2 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“He made some huge saves in huge moments,” said Jake Evans afterwards, “and I’m assuming that’s what Canada’s gonna want.”
It’s what the Canadiens regularly get from Montembeault, and it’s definitely what they received from him on Tuesday.
He was the main reason for the win which brought the Canadiens back into a playoff spot and to within one point of the Lightning for third in the Atlantic Division. Montembeault stopped 33 of 35 Tampa Bay shots and kept Montreal in the game long enough for them to erase a 2-0 deficit with quick strikes from Juraj Slafkovsky and Alex Newhook approaching the hallway mark.
And then he stood on his head in the third period before Evans made it 3-2 with 2:15 remaining.
None of it was surprising. Especially not to the Canadiens, who have become accustomed to Montembeault giving them a chance in games they don’t deserve to win.
They started the season by forcing him to be otherworldly on most nights — which essentially helped seal his selection to Canada’s roster — and they were back to doing it again on Tuesday, after a long stretch of forcing him to be nothing more than ordinary.
The Lightning were anything but ordinary. They were dangerous at every turn, leaving their coach, who will also head up Canada’s bench at the 4 Nations, frustrated by the outcome.
“You know what? Sometimes you play really well and you don’t win,” said Jon Cooper. “They’re probably clicking their heels in the other locker room there that they pulled one out, and maybe at worst we deserved points out of this game. That’s why it’s a humbling game and you don’t always get what you want or what you deserve.”
Sometimes the only thing standing in the way of that is the goaltender at the other end.
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Watching Montembeault turn aside 14 shots from 16 feet or less — including nine in the third period alone — made it one of those times.
He stopped Brandon Hagel, Michael Eyssimont, Jake Guentzel and Anthony Cirelli from point blank before the final buzzer sounded, offering a rather convincing response to the anoint-Dobes crowd.
Not that Montembeault was focused on that.
“I was just focused on stopping the next shot, like I always am,” he said.
It’s why Montembeault has found consistency — and found a way to tune out distractions.
“I feel Sam, he’s pretty easy going that way,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “I think Sam worries about what he can do, he can’t worry about the competition next to him. I think he’s happy that Dobes is doing well, but I think Sam is focused on himself a lot… Sam’s pretty even keel and he’s always working on his stuff and working for the next game, and that’s what he did tonight.”
Montembeault stole a win, boosting his goals-saved-above-expected numbers to maintain his lead in the category over other Team Canada goaltenders Adin Hill and Jordan Binnington.
In the process, he also reminded us of why he belongs where he is in the Canadiens’ goaltending pecking order.
“I know people are talking, but I think Sam earned his spot,” said Canadiens defenceman David Savard. “I think Dobes has come in and given us a chance to win every time he went in, and it’s been fun to see him perform and help us get wins, but I think Sam’s been waiting for that moment (to be the Canadiens’ No. 1) and he’s given us a chance every night. He did again tonight. I think we weren’t flying out of the gate, and he kept us in and made some big saves, and that’s the only thing you can ask for your goaltender, and Sam’s been doing this.”
