Better-than-expected saves: Habs goaltenders rank third in the NHL

Being a goalkeeper in Montreal is no easy task. It comes with a certain amount of pressure. And being one after the Carey Price era is even harder.

Like being a pitcher for the New York Yankees or a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.

Up to now, the two goalkeepers in place have done very well and seem to thrive on pressure.

Behind a defensively fragile team, Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau’s stats are encouraging.

Take a look for yourself:

And around the NHL, both are doing well.

They rank third in terms of better-than-expected saves.

Only the Bruins (Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman) and Jets (Connor Hellebuyck and Laurent Brossoit) tandems do better.

Encouraging.

Monty and Primeau do better in this category than the excellent duo of Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz in Florida.

It must be said that the teams mentioned are all in the playoffs. Not the Canadiens, who rank 27th overall and 26th in terms of goals allowed per game.

The goalies are holding down the fort, and they’re not the only ones responsible for this difficult 2023-2024 season, even if the progress is there.

Individually, Montembeault ranks sixth. He’s not behind (and ahead of) the two in spades either…

In bursts

– He was happy.

– Coming up.

– Jays win.

IKF with the exclamation point pic.twitter.com/YG0jmCIIY2

– Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 31, 2024

– Speaking of the Jays.