Montreal Canadiens' netminder Samuel Montembeault made his first start with the Laval Rocket last night, and while the result wasn't what he hoped for, he showed positive signs in the game.
While the Montreal Canadiens were taking on the Chicago Blackhawks last night, former number one netminder Samuel Montembeault was starting his first game since December 2, but in the AHL with the Laval Rocket. The organization elected to send the masked man to the AHL for conditioning, hoping it would help him regain both his game and his confidence.
Playing in the AHL for the first time since the 2020-21 season, the goaltender was tasked with backstopping the Rocket against the Cleveland Monsters. On paper, the Rocket would have been the favourite to win if it had its regular lineup. Still, with Jared Davidson, Owen Beck, Adam Engstrom, and Jacob Fowler up with the Canadiens and Joshua Roy, Laurent Dauphin and Alex Belzile all suspended following the incident in last week’s game against the Toronto Marlies, Pascal Vincent’s team was diminished.
In a 5-2 loss (including an empty net goal), Montembeault faced 24 shots and made 20 saves for a .833 SV. While the numbers are not very encouraging, it would be unfair to blame the netminder for the loss. After 40 minutes, the Rocket was trailing the Monsters 2-1, and the goalie had given up two goals on 19 shots, but things unravelled in the final frame.
Laval could only muster 18 shots on goal, which probably made Montembeault feel right at home, and was unable to find the back of the net on the five power play opportunities it got. The organization didn’t make the goalie available to the media after the game, but Pascal Vincent had this to say about his performance:
He saw a lot of action tonight, plays around the net and in front of him. He got deflected shots and others through heavy traffic. He lived through a lot of plays tonight, and that’s why he’s here: to experience those things during a game. There were a lot of actions on which we can build to help him find his parameters again.- Pascal Vincent on Montembeault's performance.
As for defenseman Tobie Bisson, he said that Montembeault had made some big saves and that any goaltender would have stopped the goals he had allowed. The veteran defenseman added that he had come out strong and that it would have been up to the Rocket to help him more to get a positive result. According to him, the Rocket was trapped in its zone way too often and was unable to launch attacks.
Covering the game for Tout sur le hockey, Jessika Lemay liked Montembeault’s game and felt he had more poise. Those are positives that the goaltender can take away from the game despite the loss, and something he can build on. The Becancour native will take part in a second game on Saturday night when the Rocket takes on the Monsters again.
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