Bottom Six Minutes 65: Jake Allen goes god mode

The Toronto Maple Leafs outshot the Montreal Canadiens 51-18 on Saturday night. Being outshot that badly usually spells a loss even to the least offensively potent teams, so against the Leafs, the odds of it happening without the Habs losing had to be astronomical.

Those odds wouldn’t take into account the possibility of Jake Allen entering god mode, which he did.

The Leafs took over the shot clock quite quickly in this game, and despite scoring just over 30 seconds in, they couldn’t generate much from their mountain of shots. Allen was lights out, and his performance allowed the opportunistic Canadiens to win with only 18 shots of their own.

His puck tracking in particular seemed to be on point in this game, as even when shots would be randomly deflected, he was able to get enough of the puck to send it out of harm’s way.

And then, seconds after the Leafs tied the game, with the Habs still killing off an additional penalty called after the tying goal, he did this to Mitch Marner.

Marner was in complete disbelief after this. It was reminiscent of a save made by a certain Carey Price on, you guessed it, Mitch Marner during last season’s playoffs. This was a sure goal, and it was amazing that he got over to attempt the save, let alone get it clean with his blocker and send it up into the protective netting.

When I say this was one of the best goaltending performances in Canadiens history, I’m not being dramatic. He actually tied the third most saves ever made by a Habs goaltender in a (regulation) regular season game.

This was far from a perfect game for the Canadiens, and one of the statistical variety that would see them lose nine times out of 10. But sometimes you are treated to a performance in net that transcends statistical probabilities, and you just have to sit back and enjoy what your team’s goaltender is giving you.

Jake Allen provided that in earnest on Saturday night.

Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available on your podcast platform of choice. Quick turnaround this time, as we’re back again this evening for the game against the New Jersey Devils.