There is no sugar coating Tuesday night’s game; the Montreal Canadiens were run over by the Arizona Coyotes. Clearly hungry to end their 12-game losing streak, Arizona played as if a win was about to guarantee them a playoff berth. Outshot, out-chanced, and thoroughly outplayed, the Habs had to rely on some opportunistic scoring to build two separate two-goal leads, and an empty netter from Nick Suzuki to seal the deal at the end.
They also had Samuel Montembeault, who did his best Carey Price impression to thwart the Coyotes’ bid to end their losing streak.
There are two ways to look at this game. On one hand, Montembeault’s 36-save brilliance was the stuff of true starting goaltenders. We’ve seen this from him enough times this season that it isn’t crazy to think he could be the starter that helps them finish the rebuild. He’s looked like the kind of goaltender who would inspire some real confidence in a seven-game series, should they see one of those in the next few years.
On the other hand, this was absolutely not a game where he should have been required to steal two points. The Habs outplayed a better team in the New Jersey Devils just a few nights prior, so we know that at least as recently as their last game, they’re significantly better than their Tuesday night effort. The steal also has some unintended consequences with respect to their draft lottery position, as the two points create some space between them and Arizona. As brilliant as his performance was, the Habs may have been better off losing like their performance in front of him deserved.
But now, they’ll have a tough stretch of games on the road, with their four-game road trip being exclusively against teams currently occupying playoff spots. Montembeault would have to repeat that performance four consecutive times to get them a winning record in those games, so it’ll be far more important that the team gets back to playing better hockey in front of their goalies.
If they gain any points on this trip, they need it to be because they earned it as a team, not thanks to heroics in net.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. The Habs are hitting the road again, and we’ll be back for their first of the trip against the Florida Panthers this Thursday night.
