How concerning is the Canadiens’ goaltending?

The Montreal Canadiens are in solid position to make it two straight years with an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

After getting bounced in five games a year ago after an unlikely run to even qualify, the Habs have a four-point lead over the playoff cut line in the East for one of the two wild card spots.

If Montreal ends up missing, it will likely be due to their inability to sort out their goaltending situation. Sam Montembeault and Jakub Dobes both have saver percentages well below the .900 threshold, and rookie Jacob Fowler is just slightly above that mark at .902.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL video coach Steve Peters discussed whether or not this issue is a big enough flaw to completely derail Montreal’s season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Speaking of goaltending, Petey, I want to throw you another one. The Montreal Canadiens, listen, they’re pretty firmly in the playoff mix right now… They aren’t going to have to do the thing they did a year ago and have a miraculous second half of the year to get into the playoffs, but they’ve been winning these games in spite of their goaltending, and Sam Montembeault is going through another tough stretch right now with 12 goals against in his last 3 starts. Scale of 1 to 10, how concerned should the Canadiens be with their goaltending?

Steve Peters: It’s high. It’s got to be at least an eight. And Sam Montembeault, last season the tear that he went on last year, this year he’s given up three or more in five of six and seven of nine. He’s only had above a .900 save percentage in 7 of 22 games. Ironically enough, Montreal’s giving up fewer shots, almost three shots a game fewer than they did a season ago. You’d expect that number to get better, but this team is 24th in goals against average… Dobes started off hot, he’s fallen off.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…