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We were eager to hear the comments from Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis following Samuel Montembeault’s performance in Florida.
On Tuesday night, Samuel Montembeault had his moment in Florida.
After the 3-2 overtime win against the Panthers, Martin St-Louis confirmed that his goaltender had worked very well.
Montembeault stopped 28 shots and gave the Habs the stability they had been looking for for some time.
The coach also revisited the path of the past few weeks. Montembeault accepted a conditioning stint with the Laval Rocket, where he played two games to get himself back on track.
Martin St-Louis confirms our impressions regarding Samuel Montembeault
At the press conference, St-Louis delivered a sentence that sums it all up. He said that you can either make excuses or make progress, but not both.
According to him, Montembeault chose progress, and it showed in net with a very calm goaltender.
Martin St. Louis on Samuel Montembeault:
“In anything with life, you can make excuses or make progress. You can’t do both. We know what Monty chose, progress.
He played two games (with Laval) to rebuild himself. We wanted to give him a start as soon as possible. He played an excellent game. He was very calm in net”
This season, his numbers were difficult to read, with 15 games played, a 3.65 goals-against average and a .857 save percentage, which put pressure on his shoulders.
And he absolutely delivered!
There is still an important file within the organization.
Montembeault is 29 years old and is under contract for three years, $9.45M, with a cap hit of $3.15M through the end of 2026-27.
When a goaltender at that salary level gets things going again, it quickly changes the tone in the locker room, especially with Jacob Fowler and Jakub Dobes in the picture.
In the end, St-Louis didn’t sell any dreams. He mainly showed that he wants concrete results, one start at a time, and that Montembeault had just delivered a very good game at the right time.
Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics