At this point, you have to wonder when — or if — Cayden Primeau will play another game in goal for the Canadiens.
Samuel Montembeault made his 10th consecutive start Monday night in Columbus as the Canadiens lost 5-4 to the Blue Jackets — ending their season-best three-game win streak.
You can’t blame this loss on Montembeault, who stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced, and the Canadiens battled back hard after falling behind 2-0 in the first period.
The Canadiens also lost Patrik Laine in the first period with an upper-body injury that kept him out for the rest of the game. Laine had scored eight goals in his first nine games with the Canadiens — all on the power play — after recovering from a preseason knee injury, and the Canadiens had a 6-3-0 record in those games. The Canadiens went 0-for-2 on the power play against the Blue Jackets.
Montembeault has now played in 28 games this season, tied with the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck for the most in the NHL. Montembeault’s record fell to 12-14-2 with the loss to the Blue Jackets, and he has a 2.94 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
Primeau hasn’t started a game since Dec. 1 — a 6-3 loss to the Bruins in Boston — and has a 2-3-1 record with a 4.70 goals-against average and an .836 save percentage.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis got upset with a reporter before Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre when asked if he had lost confidence in Primeau’s ability to win games.
“I’m concentrating on coaching the game today,” St. Louis said before walking away from the media scrum in a huff and cursing in French.
It was a relevant question then and it’s even more relevant after Monday’s loss in Columbus.
The Canadiens, who saw their record fall to 14-17-3, have 48 games left in the season and Montembeault can’t start all of them. The Canadiens will now enjoy a Christmas break in the schedule and don’t play again until Saturday in Florida against the Panthers (1 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
When Canadiens GM Kent Hughes traded 23-year-old defenceman Justin Barron to the Nashville Predators last Wednesday in exchange for 28-year-old defenceman Alexandre Carrier, it was a sign that in Year 3 of this rebuild the team is starting to put more of a focus on winning instead of just development. Remember, management’s goal before the season started was to be “in the mix” for a playoff spot.
The Canadiens had obviously given up on Barron’s development and decided to add experience instead in Carrier, giving the team a better chance to win. With the trade, the Canadiens also avoided having to put Barron on waivers to send him down to the AHL’s Laval Rocket and risk losing him to another NHL team without getting anything in return.
The only reason the Canadiens kept Primeau with the Canadiens last season and went with a bizarre three-goalie system with Montembeault and Jake Allen was because they were afraid they’d lose him on waivers. It now looks like the Canadiens have given up on Primeau’s development with their refusal to play him and it’s time to move on, either with a trade or by calling up one of the two goalies playing in Laval — Jakub Dobes or Connor Hughes.
Montembeault is the only goalie in the NHL to start 10 consecutive games this season and Monday’s game was his third in four nights — including two on the road.
“I had the opportunity to start tonight and give the team a chance to win,” Montembeault told reporters in Columbus after the game.
The goalie didn’t want to use the three games in four nights as an excuse, but did say: “My legs were a little heavier, but we have three days off (now) to visit family.”
Montembeault also noted that both teams had a chance to win the game in the third period.
Kirill Marchenko scored the winning goal on a wrist shot that beat Montembeault high to the glove side with 2:12 left on the clock. Dmitri Voronkov scored twice for the Blue Jackets, who also got singles from Kent Johnson and former Canadiens defenceman Jordan Harris. It was the first goal for Harris with the Blue Jackets since they acquired him from the Canadiens in the Laine trade on Aug. 19.
David Savard, Lane Hutson, Jake Evans and Joel Armia scored for the Canadiens. Evans has now scored in three straight games and his eight goals this season are one more than he had in 82 games last season. He also added an assist against the Blue Jackets and has a four-game point streak with 3-3-6 totals during that span. Evans can become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
This was Laine’s first game against the Blue Jackets since the trade and it didn’t last long. He only had six shifts and 6:15 of ice time before leaving the game with the upper-body injury.
After the game, St. Louis said he didn’t have any more information to provide on Laine’s status.
When asked if the goaltending situation was something he would look at over the holiday break, with Montembeault admitting his legs were heavy, St. Louis said: “We look at everything.”
The coach added: “It was a deserved start (for Montembeault). He has played very good hockey and tonight it wasn’t his fault.”