About Last Night: Montembeault leads Habs over powerhouse Rangers

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Sam Montembeault made 46 saves, not including a highlight reel stop in the shootout, in a 4-3 win for the Canadiens over the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.

The Rangers, who are tied for the most points in the Eastern conference with the Boston Bruins, erased a three-goal deficit to send the game into overtime, but Cole Caufield was the lone goal scorer in the shootout to secure the win for the Habs.

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But the major water cooler moment was Montembeault robbing Mika Zibanejad’s one-handed move in the shootout. If you’re in a rush, we’ll cut to it right away:

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Rewind back to the first period: Brendan Gallagher hit top shelf for his first goal in 25 games to open scoring.

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Montreal kept the momentum going early in the second, with two goals in rapid succession. At 1:09, Sean Monahan completed a give and go with Jesse Ylonen for his 10th goal of the season.

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Then Joel Armia made it goals in consecutive games to put the Habs up 3-0 at 2:39 of the second.

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The Rangers have a lot of firepower, and they stormed back. Vincent Trocheck scored on the deflection to put New York on the board, down 3-1.

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Four minutes later, Trocheck set up Artemi Panarin with a set play off the faceoff to pull New York to within one. The Habs were hanging on 3-2 after two periods, but the Rangers were leading in shots 35-20.

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The Rangers completed the comeback in the third period. After Cole Caufield missed a glorious chance in the slot off a turnover, Adam Fox’s shot found the back of the net through traffic to tie it up 3-3.

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Montreal didn’t wilt after coughing up the lead. Jake Evans and Mike Matheson had chances to retake the lead, but hit iron. Montembeault made 41 saves in regulation. Off to overtime this game went.

Montembeault’s heroics continued in the extra frame after the Habs gave up the puck after going on a power play with 11 seconds left in overtime. Monty made two huge saves at the buzzer to send the game to a shootout.

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In the shootout, Caufield was the only goal scorer on both sides. Montreal came away with the impressive win on home ice.

Goalies don’t get rated on Hockey Stat Cards, but it’s clear Montembeault was the game’s first star. Jayden Struble continued his strong, steady play on the blue line, while Kaiden Guhle has had some growing pains alongside Justin Barron.

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Before Montembeault single-handedly stole the game, the main story in the Liveblog comments was the lack of finish. Caufield, Evans and Matheson all missed obvious scoring chances. It was also a highly entertaining Saturday night contest between two Original Six teams.

As if it wasn’t obvious before last night, Montembeault has won the starting goalie job in Montreal outright. The Liveblog commenters are ready to see the three-goalie experiment come to an end with “Snacks” getting the majority of the reps moving forward.

3. “Wow. What a game. Monty just insane. Loved it. Take back everything I said earlier about Nic Suzuki, Absolute beast tonight. Actually wanted the win tonight. Wow. What a game.” -Arthur Chilli

2. “Holy crap….Monty…you are our #1.” -Bob Taylor

1. “Terrific game. Rangers have a ton of firepower, but give the Habs credit for challenging all game. As a matter of fact it was the Rangers holding on for dear life late in the third trying to get into OT for the single point. Habs played all 65 minutes. First star Monty.” -Doug Kirkby

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