To say Samuel Montembeault has had a tough start to the season would be an accurate statement. After four games, the Montreal Canadiens’ number one netminder has allowed 13 goals and has a 3.26 goals-against average and a .857 save percentage, those numbers are not first string goalie worthy.
Martin St-Louis is fully aware of that and as a result, Jakub Dobes will be getting his third start of the season in just seven games. What does that mean? It simply means that the Canadiens are no longer focussing on development alone, now they need wins and as a result, the coach has decided to ride the hot hand. That’s not controversy, that’s accountability.
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If a skater can skip a turn for a bad play, so can goaltenders. Montembeault was quite clear after the last game that he had to be better. On Monday morning, he got on the ice before everyone else, yes, even before Lane Hutson and he worked on his game, taking plenty of shots from a trainer. He then worked through practice and at the end, he stayed on the ice as Jakub Dobes left, indicating that the youngster would be in net against the Buffalo Sabres.
After practice, here’s what the coach had to say:
I think it’s a competitive league, you always going to have internal competition. Dobes had put himself, you know what he’s done last year and what he’s done so far, in a position where he deserves starts. We feel comfortable with both goalies, but you’re always going to have internal competition no matter what position you play, players want more. –
Good NHL teams must have at least two good goaltenders, especially since there are a lot of back-to-back games in this cramped regular season schedule. St-Louis added that he has two good goaltenders and that the organisation will be managing their workload in light of their performance, which makes sense really, Just like the bench boss said he would be led in a certain direction to form his lines and pairings, the goaltenders’ performance will led them to the right decision with the goaltenders as well.
To be clear, nobody’s giving up ho Montembeault, but the days of running your starter into the ground with too many starts are long gone. There is no Martin Brodeur in the league anymore, no one plays 77 of their team’s 82 games. With the Team Canada roster selection looming, the timing is not great for Montembeault to struggle, but all he can do is what he did this morning, roll up his sleeves and show that he deserves to get the lion’s share of the work and to represent his country in February.
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