With Jakub Dobes now lining up with the Montreal Canadiens, Samuel Montembeault has got some internal competition and he made sure to stake his claim on the first goaltender job.
While the Montreal Canadiens won their game on Monday night with Samuel Montembeault in net, the goaltender didn't have a good outing. After seeing his young understudy sign three wins in a row to start his young career, the Becaucour native upped his game in the first frame of tonight's game against the Dallas Stars.
In 20 minutes of action, the number one goaltender set aside 17 shots while Jake Oettinger was only tested seven times. Dallas also completely dominated at the faceoff dot, winning 63% of its duel. Meanwhile, the Canadiens had turn on the hits to regain possession, it was the only stat they dominated with 13 to Dallas' two.
The Habs came out for the second frame like they had received precise instructions on how to play the game. Martin St-Louis has said over and over this season that a team must read the game and take what's being given to it. While there's nothin fun about dumping the puck and chasing it, sometimes, that's what's needed.
Montreal only had seven shots in the first frame but finished the second frame with 19 of them, with many coming from that forecheck. Still it's not where the Canadiens' goal came from, but that's how they drew a penalty. Unsurprisingly, it was Patrik Laine who had came back to the lineup tonight that scored the game-opening goal on the man advantage with assist from Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson.
A little over two minutes later, Maverick Bourque dispossessed Alexandre Carrier and sent Jaime Benn rushing towards Montembeault, who he beat with a road shot. With 20 minutes to go, the teams were still tied at 1-1.
The third frame was tightly contested and the Canadiens added 11 more shots on net while Dallas added height, but nobody found the back of the net, meaning the game went to overtime for the 4th game in a row.
No one could find the back of the net in overtime, and Jason Robertson got the sole goal in the shootout to keep the Stars' winning streak alive. The Canadiens have nothing to be ashamed of tonight, as it was quite the turn around after the first 20 minutes.
The Stars were just the hottest team tonight which does make sense as the Canadiens were playing in Washington last night. The Habs dug deep, and came close to prevailing. Montreal now has a couple of days off before taking on the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday.
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