Call of the Wilde: Canadiens’ goaltending flounders with 8-4 loss to Capitals

Heading into their Thursday night contest against the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre, the Montreal Canadiens had only one win in their last seven.

Despite that, with a win the Canadiens would move into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division.

However, their demon this season struck again. When Alexander Ovechkin scored his second of the night, the Canadiens goalies had allowed six goals on 30 shots.

It’s not possible to win an NHL game with an .800 save percentage. The Capitals won 8-4.

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The first period felt like the Canadiens were coming out of their doldrums. The Capitals are a strong team, yet it was the Canadiens who were better. They outshot the Caps 12-6, and if not for one second of leaving Alexander Ovechkin alone, they would have led after 20.

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The power play broke its zero-for-17 run with a goal from the second unit. Ivan Demidov and Noah Dobson got the helpers as a hard-working Brendan Gallagher counted by squeezing it just over the line by the smallest of margins.

The Canadiens showed so much good everywhere but the goal. Joe Veleno looked like a good NHL player for the first time. His goal, the first for him on the season, was a fantastic shot into the top corner.

Joshua Roy had his best game since the call up. Zachary Bolduc was much more engaged than he was on Monday. The line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield was much better as well. Suzuki’s goal was an indicator of more to come without Juraj Slafkovsky on the line.

In fact, it was the top line that connected in the third period, with Mike Matheson finishing the pressure that was constant by the line on their second night together.

Noah Dobson had perhaps his best game of the season. The pair with Matheson is having an excellent season for the first of many it is hoped.

There’s so much to like from Montreal, except nothing feels good when to win you have to hold your opposition to 15 shots to have a chance.

4:46 Call of the Wilde: Habs face second loss this week

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The Canadiens have to figure out their goaltending issues. No team can rise above goaltending this horrific. They have not had better than an .870 save percentage since Utah two weeks ago. In this one, Samuel Montembeault started. He allowed three goals on 10 shots before getting pulled.

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Jakub Dobes came in and allowed two more goals in the next 10 shots. That’s a .750 save percentage in the first two periods for the two. The forwards and defenders were better than the Capitals players, but their backs were broken every time a banana was let in, and they were almost all bananas.

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Is there a coaching issue here? They’re both so far away from fundamental and proper goaltending, even novices to the game can see it has all broken down.

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On the first Ethen Frank goal, Frank was in the middle of the ice. He tried a hopeful wrist shot from 30 to 35 feet. It should have been an easy catch. Not only did Montembeault miss the catch, for some reason he was moving on the save. Where were you going, Sam?

A theory in sports is a still head and still eyes catch better. The philosophy of a still head is everywhere in sports. Keep the head still on your golf swing. Keep the head still when you catch. It’s fundamental.

On the next goal, it was another banana. Frank took the shot again, but this time he was skating down the left side. Montembeault completely lost his net. It was a save off his crest if he were standing in the right spot. Montembeault was beaten far side. He was standing out of his net when the shot was finished.

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Dobes came in and he let in a banana as well. Again, for some inexplicable reason, Dobes was heading to the corner on the Sonny Milano shot. Why are the goalies going to Moose Jaw to save shots?

These are not difficult shots. How are they losing their net so badly that they are not even in it? This is a mystery. Montembeault was an .858 before the game began. He pulled a .700 in this one. Impossible to win. Simply impossible.

Equally frustrating was the injury to Jake Evans. Evans had passed the puck to a mate two seconds before he was elbowed in the head by Tom Wilson. It could have been a charging penalty or an elbowing penalty, but nothing was called, and with Evans out of the play the Capitals scored.

Evans made his way immediately to the locker room. He either has a shoulder injury or a concussion. He has concussion history. Hopefully, it’s not too serious for Evans.

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From a hockey point of view for fans in Laval, it’s another successful season so far. The Rocket are, once again, on top of the North Division. The fans are enjoying the competition and the victories at Place Bell.

However, from a prospect point of view, it is actually trending toward a poor season for the organization. They want the best prospects to shine, but for the most part, that is not happening.

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The best forward is Laurent Dauphin. He’s one back the league lead in scoring with 17 points. That’s only just higher than a point-per-game average, but the American Hockey League is a very defensive league, so it is better than it looks. The problem is Dauphin is a career minor leaguer at 30 years of age. The AHL is his destiny with perhaps the odd cup of coffee still to come, if injuries continue to pile up.

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The organization wanted players like Florian Xhekaj, Luke Tuch, Owen Beck, Filip Mesar and Tyler Thorpe to take the next step, but it’s not happening.

They want the size of Xhekaj and Tuch to reach NHL calibre, but their seasons are underwhelming. Xhekaj has four points. Tuch has one point. Physicality is important, but those physical players have to be able to contribute a little bit.

Owen Beck has fallen back in a classic sophomore slump manner. He has three goals in 15 games. Generally, players who arrive as effective defensive centres in the NHL are strong offensive centres in the AHL. Jake Evans is your comparable. Evans in his second and final season in the AHL was the team leader in scoring.

Filip Mesar has never had a strong stint longer than three weeks since draft day. This season is no different with seven points. This may be Nick Bobrov’s biggest draft miss.

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Tyler Thorpe is another big body that the Canadiens hope will figure it out more as a complete player. He’s younger than the others, so the road still has some miles in front of it, but Thorpe has yet to score in 15 games.

That’s a lot of underperforming so far. On the upside, it’s not euphoric either. David Reinbacher is performing well defensively, but how anyone thought this player had a ‘five pick overall’ worthy offensive upside is confusing. It’s simply not there. He has yet to score and has three assists in eight games. In his defence, he has a lot of runway as well.

Adam Engstrom is the best defender on the Rocket, but this is a third pair NHL defender at best. No reason to jump with joy over what a third or fourth rounder brings at the trading deadline. He will always be a depth asset.

The best has been saved for last. The only player on the team who looks like he will hit the upside expected of him is Jacob Fowler.

Fowler is performing well in his first AHL season. His save percentage is .921, which is eighth in the league. It’s a good number for year one. Fowler is making huge saves, and he has a strong disposition which we know actually matters.

Truth is, though it can change fast, Fowler looks like the only top of the roster prospect at this moment.

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Reinbacher looks destined to be a second pair NHL defender, perhaps only a third pair. About his top side, this caveat must be said: he needs so much more hockey under him than he has had so far for someone turning 22 in five days. He deserves more games. Defenders need time, but that’s the honest evaluation at the moment.

Thankfully for the organization, in Russia Alexander Zharovsky and at college in Michigan Michael Hage are on fire, so four regular NHL players to come remains the bottom line. That is a big number for any team to graduate players to the show, but the organization probably thought the bottom line was better.

There’s still plenty of time for upside surprises, though, for all of these still young players.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.

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