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Without Samuel Montembeault, the Habs would have four fewer wins
Credit: YouTube

Samuel Montembeault allowed two late goals Tuesday night in Dallas against the mighty Stars. However, if it hadn’t been for his prowess beforehand, the Montreal Canadiens would surely not have come away with a .500 record on this trip.

The Tricolore’s number 1 goaltender is very solid in front of his cage, even if he can sometimes give a lisp when short-handed. At 5-on-5, for example, Monty is fabulous, ranking among the best on the circuit in this regard.

If we value the goal scored at 5-on-5, it goes without saying for the performance of the goaltenders, doesn’t it?

Monty was named first star of the evening with a 4-3 win, his fourth of the season. Another theft by the Quebec cerberus. With a total of nine thefts, the bleu-blanc-rouge is at the top of this category.

To fully understand goalie “steals”, they are actually goals saved above expected versus goal differential.

In terms of numbers, number 35 is tied with Joseph Woll for second place, behind the excellent Ilya Sorokin. In percentage, he ranks second behind Woll, who is currently on the Leafs’ list of crippled players. Cayden Primeau also has a 25% success rate, putting him on a par with Monty.

In short, Samuel Montembeault steals a game every five games or so, a singular feat. A fanatic who looks only at save percentage and/or goals-against average will say that Montembeault is ordinary with his 90.3% efficiency rating…

Hence the importance of analyzing duels in order to judge the athletes’ performances. The paper is far from summing it all up!


Breaking news

– Excellent column on the Canadiens’ defencemen.

– Statistics on the rise in the QMJHL.

– 150,000 people watched the women’s hockey game on RDS2. WOW!

By the way, the first guest to appear on the JD Show is none other than Dan Richard of RDS. The show will be live on Twitter/X as well as Facebook.

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