Canadiens: Battle Of Woeful Goaltending

It’s been a tough goaltending month for the Montreal Canadiens, after Samuel Montembeault started the season with a magical 48-save shutout to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Habs netminders, like their defense really, has crumbled. In 11 games, the Sainte-Flanelle has given up 46 goals.

Meanwhile, tonight’s hosts, the Pittsburgh Penguins have already surrendered 48 goals to their opponents, but they’ve done it over 12 games for an average goals against per game played of 4.00 while the Canadiens are tied with the Colorado Avalanche in last place with 4.18.

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If you think Montembeault and Cayden Primeau have had issues, you should know that the Penguins’ number one goaltender last year Tristan Jarry is currently in the AHL with the Pens’ farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He landed there after playing three NHL games this season in which he gave up 12 goals and posted a goals-against average of 5.47 and a save percentage of .836.

As a result, the Penguins are now relying on Alex Nedeljkovic and Joel Blomqvist to hold the forth with modest results. The former has a 3.18 GAA and a .890 SP while the latter has just played his first six NHL games and has a 3.46 GAA and a .909 SP to show for it.

Both teams have similar records right now, the Pennsylvania outfit has a 4-7-1 record with nine points to its name while the Tricolore also has nine points but on the back of a 4-6-1 record.

The two teams already played each other this season, with the Penguins triumphing 6-3 at the Bell Centre in mid-October with Lars Eller hurting his former team with a couple of goals and Evgeny Malkin earning first star honours with a goal and two assists.

Related: Canadiens: Montembeault Cannot Win Them All

The Canadiens won’t be having a morning skate today, it was initially planned to take place at 11:30 AM, but after holding what could be called a punishing practice on Friday, coach Martin St-Louis has elected not to put his men back on the ice before the game.

The bench boss was understandably disappointed after Thursday’s debacle and he decided it was time to react. As he made his charges skate, skate and skate again, he was heard shouting it would “be like that every time”. In other words, if the level of effort is not satisfying and if the same issues are resurfacing, the players could find themselves right back in the same predicament.

Questioned by the press on practice, he explained that a coach is like a father, there are times when you need to be tougher on your kids and after watching the Canadiens’ first 11 games, it strikes me as a pretty fair comment.

Related: Canadiens: Uneven Effort Leads To Another Big Defeat

This article will be updated as relevant information and statistics become available. The game is set to start at 7:00 PM, and is the last one before the Canadiens head home for a tilt with the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

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