Montembeault shoulders blame for Canadiens 4-3 loss to Rangers

MONTREAL – After allowing three goals on six shots in the first 5:51 of the third period of the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, goaltender Samuel Montembeault shouldered the blame.

The Canadiens held a 2-1 lead into the third period, but the three straight goals turned that into a 4-2 deficit at the time.

“I will take a lot of the blame,” said Montembeault. “I need to be better. It’s two games in a row I have a good two periods and then in the third it doesn’t go as well. The guys work hard and it’s up to me to make the saves.”

Montembeault allowed four goals on 22 shots Saturday, and it was the second straight game that he had that statline. Five of the eight goals have come in the third period.

The Rangers scored the go-ahead goal on Matthew Robertson’s first NHL goal, a shot from the point without much traffic in front.

“I never saw a shot curve like that,” Montembeault said. “It was going one way and then went the other. But it’s still a save that I need to make.”

Montembeault had a career best 31 wins, 2.82 goals against average and .902 save percentage for the Canadiens last season. Through his first four starts this year, he is 2-2 with a 3.26 goals against average and .857 save percentage.

Though the Canadiens goaltender was taking the blame, his captain and coach don’t feel that way.

“I don’t think he should be too hard on himself,” said Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. “We did a lot of things in front of him that didn’t help him out too much. I thought he made some big saves and we have all the trust in him.”

“The players are competitive. It’s a position that is unforgiving,” said Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis. “It’s not all on Monty. We needed to do things better in front of him.”

One of the things both players and coaches alike felt they need to do better is breaking the puck out of the defensive zone.

“I don’t think we were too connected coming out of our zone and through the neutral zone, especially in the second period,” said Canadiens defender Mike Matheson.

“I think they did a good job of disrupting our breakouts and really making it challenging for us,” Suzuki said.

MATHESON THE WORKHORSE

The Canadiens were short-handed for 3:32 throughout Saturday’s game, and Matheson was on the ice for every one of those seconds. The Canadiens defender has been forced into the go-to blue liner on the penalty kill, especially with the news that the team will be without Kaiden Guhle for four-to-six weeks.

“Sometimes I play the full two minutes and I feel pretty comfortable doing that,” Matheson said. “Especially when it is in zone, it’s not like you’re running around, it’s a lot more controlled.”

He led all Canadiens players with 24:07 in total ice time.

PENALTY THE TURNING POINT

With the Canadiens up 2-0 after just 3:42 in the first period, things were going their way until Josh Anderson’s holding penalty midway through the frame.

Mika Zibanejad scored on the ensuing power play, and cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Canadiens struggled to regain control of the game from that point.

“It’s a 60-minute game. When a team scores the next goal to make it 2-1, it changes the game. It was a different game after we took the penalty,” St. Louis said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2025.