Canadiens have persevered through bad goaltending to remain in playoff picture

It’s no great shock to see the Montreal Canadiens third in the Atlantic Division and tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference halfway through the season. After all, the Habs were rightly seen as one of the most promising teams in the NHL coming into the year.

How they’ve gotten to where they are, however, might come as a bit of a surprise. One of Montreal’s bright spots last season was goaltender Sam Montembeault, who had a .901 save percentage and a 2.82 goals against average over 60 starts. This year, however, Montembeault has struggled mightily, sporting a .865 SV% and a 3.38 GAA. Despite the Canadiens’ crease concerns, they’ve stayed afloat thanks to a high-octane offense ranked seventh in goals per game, led by captain Nick Suzuki and a clutch of dynamic youngsters. Montreal will want to see their goaltending and defense improve in the second half of the season, as despite their high placement in the standings, their even goal differential is seventh worst in the Eastern Conference.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton handed out mid-season grades for the Atlantic Divison teams, and discussed the Canadiens’ ability to overcome their goaltending.

Tyler Yaremchuk: A team like the Habs, Hutts, they will be judged on how they build off of last year. Making the playoffs last year, big checkmark, big win. This year it’s about taking that next step for the Habs.

Carter Hutton: I agree. Looking at where they’re at right now in the standings. If you went back to the start of the season, a lot of people thought there might be a little bit of regression, beacuse it was such an emotional season for them last year.

This is a pretty good squad, with the fact that Sam Montembeault hasn’t been able to make a save for them. He has struggled a lot for this team. He was your guy, he was on Team Canada last year for the 4 Nations. He was supposed to be your rock. He played a ton of minutes last year. Being able to guide yourself through a wavy first half where you weren’t getting your starting goalie to make a save and to be in this situation, I think is a good thing.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Tuesday’s episode here…