Canadiens Lineup

Artturi Lehkonen – Nick Suzuki – Tyler Toffoli

Rem Pitlick – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson

Laurent Dauphin – Ryan Poehling – Mike Hoffman

Michael Pezzetta – Lukas Vejdemo – Cedric Paquette

Ben Chiarot – David Savard

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Chris Wideman

Cayden Primeau – Sam Montembeault

Kale Clague

Christian Dvorak (upper-body), Jonathan Drouin (upper-body), Jake Allen (lower-body), Paul Byron (hip), Brendan Gallagher (lower-body), Mathieu Perreault (lower-body), Joel Edmundson (back), Carey Price (knee), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)

Joel Armia, Cole Caufield

Michael McNiven

Game Report

The Montreal Canadiens are 32nd in goals against in the NHL this season. The ranking isn’t solely the fault of the goaltenders, but suffice to say, the trio who has started games for the Habs are primarily responsible. Apart from once in a blue moon performances, Jake Allen, Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau have been dreadful this season.

Tonight Cayden Primeau got the start but lasted just one period before getting pulled for the fourth time this season (in seven starts.) Primeau gave up three goals on just nine shots in the opening twenty minutes. During the intermission break, analyst Martin Biron argued  that all three Anaheim goals were stoppable.

Sam Montembeault started the second period and was welcomed by the magic of Trevor Zegras just 1:25 into the period. There was nothing Montembeault could do on the first Zegras goal but the 25-year-old allowed two goals on 15 shots and was tagged with the loss. 

Montembeault has just two wins in 17 games played. Jake Allen has five wins in 24 games played. And Cayden Primeau is sporting a 4.60 goals against average and a .879 save percentage in seven games played.

During the Marc Bergevin era, Carey Price erased dozens of mistakes per game committed by his teammates with most happening without recognition or fanfare. Now mistakes are being laid bare as the Canadiens have plummeted from their Stanley Cup final finish to the bottom of the NHL standings.

The goaltending portfolio may provide Kent Hughes with the most interesting set of decisions over the coming months. It is abundantly clear that Allen is no longer a number one goaltender and that Montembeault and Primeau are better suited to AHL-calibre play at this point in their careers.

Up Next

The Canadiens will play the second game of their extended home stand on Saturday when they host the Edmonton Oilers. 

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