The Pressure Is On For Samuel Montembeault On Saturday Against The Sens

Montembeault has had what has been an absolutely disastrous start to the season, being in the bottom 5 in the entire NHL in both save percentage and Goals Against Average. He currently has a 2-3 record with an .842 save percentage and a 3.82 GAA. 

Luckily for the Habs, they have had Jakub Dobes really pick up the slack over the last month, as he has been one of the top 5 goaltenders in the entire NHL to start the season. Dobes has a perfect 6-0 record to combine with his .930 save percentage and 1.97 GAA.

In reality, his numbers faltered a bit during Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, but he still managed to have a decent performance despite allowing 3 goals late in the game. The fact that he allowed those goals and blew the lead to the Kraken before Cole Caufield won the game in overtime. Nonetheless, Dobes is having a great start to the season, which is surely putting pressure on Montembeault to perform like his counterpart. 

Saturday night will be Montembeault’s shot not only to regain the trust of his coaching staff but also the fanbase that has soured quite a bit on him after his tough start to the regular season. As it stands, Montembeault has only one performance this season where he posted an above .900 save percentage, when he registered a .909 save percentage in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Even in that game, his movements seemed shaky, and he was lucky that the Blackhawks didn’t score more. It seems like his struggles this season are related to his positioning, as rather than playing an aggressive style and challenging his shooters, he seems to be too deep in his net, which allows him to have less control in his net.

After only playing once in the last 5 games due to his struggles, Montembeault has had a lot of time to rework his game over the last 9 days since his last start, where the Habs lost 6-5 after being up 5-3 late against the Edmonton Oilers. With that being said, hopefully, he plays a little more aggressively in his crease to avoid allowing a weak goal. As much as the deflection goals are not his fault, it also doesn’t help that playing deep in his net gives him less space to move.

The game on Saturday night is the perfect chance in reality for Montembeault to get back on his path to bouncing back into the goaltender he was last year. It is against a division rival that also has a starting netminder in Linus Ullmark, who has had his fair share of struggles early on this season, currently supporting an .862 save percentage and a 3.36 GAA. Therefore, if the Senators choose to start Ullmark on Saturday, it could be a battle between two goaltenders who are looking to put their first month of the season behind them.

If Montembeault has another bad game, it could mean he won’t get another start for a long while, as there are no back-to-backs until the very end of November. The pressure will be on for Montembeault to have a good performance against one of the team’s biggest rivals on home ice.

Do you think Montembeault will turn the page on his rough start on Saturday?