Habs Daily: Montembeault Stats, Canadiens Upswing, Montgomery

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Tuesday.

Montreal Canadiens News

After a slow start to the season, it appears goaltender Samuel Montembeault is back to the form that had put him in contention for Team Canada’s roster at the 4 Nations Faceoff. He’s saved 84 of the last 87 shots sent his way, which has pushed his season save percentage to .906, which is slightly higher than last season (.903). It should also be noted that two of the three shutouts in his career have come in 2024-25, including Monday’s dominant 3-0 win over Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. [Habs Highlights: Total Team Effort Leads To Great Canadiens Win]

Let’s give a round of applause to these goalies! 👏@pepsi Goalies of the Week pic.twitter.com/aUJmL5GuPg

— NHL (@NHL) November 19, 2024

Speaking of turning a corner, the Habs have also enjoyed an uptick in several important stats. Compared to their results in October, the underlying numbers in November have been incredibly encouraging, both offensively and defensively. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. [The Montreal Canadiens Are On The Upswing, Here’s The Proof]

The Boston Bruins decided to fire the coach with the best results in the NHL since he’s been on the job, Jim Montgomery. The Montreal-native had a sparkling 120-40-23 record with the Bruins, which represents a .715 win percentage. Of course, the Bruins have struggled in the playoffs, and they have stumbled out of the blocks this season, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue the playoff losses and the slow start are due to inadequate coaching.

As for those who are hoping he will join the Canadiens, it’s incredibly unlikely. The Habs are not ready to move on from Martin St-Louis, and Montgomery will have his pick of the litter when it comes to head coaching jobs, therefore the odds that he would accept an assistant coaching job are microscopic.

Interestingly, the decision to fire Montgomery means St-Louis is now the fifth-longest tenured head coach in the NHL, behind Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay, March 2013), Mike Sullivan (Pittsburgh, December 2015),  Jared Bednar (Colorado, August 2016), and Rob Brind’Amour (Carolina, May 2018). Technically, Andre Tourigny has been at his post longer than St-Louis, but Utah is considered a new franchise, therefore the clock has been reset.

Either way, it’s quite the comment on the coaching carousel in the NHL when St-Louis’ February 2022 hiring makes him one of the longest tenured head coaches in the NHL. [Boston Hockey Now: Bruins Fire Head Coach Jim Montgomery]

The Canadiens announced Rafael Harvey-Pinard would be loaned to the Laval Rocket. The move is considered a long-term injury conditioning loan. Harvey-Pinard injured his leg this offseason in a non-team related event. [Canadiens]

National Hockey Now Network

We’re almost a quarter of the way through the 2024-25 regular season and Avalanche star forward Mikko Rantanen, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, has still not signed a contract extension. And this isn’t quite how the Avs usually do business, [Colorado Avalanche]

The Florida Panthers made big changes to how fans watch their games — both on TV and on streaming devices — and they have tuned in with big numbers. [Florida Panthers]

After the New Jersey Devils had extended days off, they returned to the ice for practice on Tuesday morning. However, when the team hit the ice, they were missing two key bodies. [New Jersey Devils]