Canadiens goalie Samuel Montembeault out 10-14 days

The word came out of Brossard on Friday, 2 days after Montembeault left Wednesday's practice early and clearly in pain.

Eric Engels

@EricEngels

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis tells reporters in Brossard Samuel Montembeault will miss the next 10-14 days with a lower-body injury.

This one stings because of the timing. Montembeault, 29, has yet to play in 2026-27. Jakub Dobes started all 3 of Montreal's first games, and the guy who walked into last season as the established starter came into camp needing to win his net back. He was finally due for a look, and now he's in the trainer's room instead.

The Canadiens didn't wait around. They called up Jacob Fowler from the Laval Rocket, and he started Thursday against Nashville. It didn't go great: the Predators won 5-2 and Montreal fell to 1-2-1. Fowler went 9-6-2 with a 2.43 GAA and a.908 save percentage in his NHL minutes last season, so he's not some emergency body off the street, but nobody in Montreal wanted the goalie depth chart tested this early.

Montembeault has a long resume to lean on: 7 NHL seasons, a 90-92-32 record, a 3.23 GAA and a.896 save percentage. Those numbers are why the bounce-back mattered so much to him. That shot at a fresh start is on hold now, and the beat's read on it was pretty measured.

Eric Engels

@EricEngels

Small delay, hopefully not a setback for Montembeault

Sportsnet@Sportsnet

Samuel Montembeault’s redemption tour has been postponed. As @EricEngels writes, after working so hard to earn this opportunity, now the goalie must dust off the pickaxes again just to grind his way back up to the surface. t.co/UPbCHksz24

That's the hope. On the calendar, 10-14 days probably costs him the next handful of games, starting with Saturday's visit from a 1-2-0 Detroit team. Expect Dobes to carry the load with Fowler behind him. What matters is what St. Louis does once Montembeault is cleared. If Dobes keeps rolling, Montembeault comes back to the same fight he was already in, just a couple of weeks later. If Dobes cools off, a healthy Montembeault could be in net quicker than anyone expected on Wednesday.