Canadiens Notes: Habs Road Trip Ahead

The Montreal Canadiens wrap up the home heavy portion of the month on Tuesday by hosting the San Jose Sharks. On Friday, they begin a four-game road trip starting in Chicago and Winnipeg. They will then wrap up the trip in St. Louis and Dallas.

The Habs have one regulation win through the first eight games. While not overly concerning, there is one clear downside. All three overtime or shootout wins came against division rivals, handing them a point.

Fowler is NHL Ready

On October 9th, the team announced a 10-to-14 day absence for Samuel Montembeault. With Montembeault not having skated through the nine days, he is unlikely to be ready for game action this week. The Canadiens recalled Jacob Fowler from Laval, and his recent performances suggest he’s ready for the NHL. Fowler has started four of Montreal’s last five games, while Jakub Dobes is working with Marco Marciano to rebuild his game back to the form that led the team to the Conference Final.

At the Canadiens golf tournament, Kent Hughes said that they’re not starting the season with three goalies. The situation has changed since that statement. If the organization decides to move forward with Dobes and Fowler as its tandem, Montembeault would become the logical trade candidate given his expiring contract. If Hughes hopes to receive an asset in return, Montembeault will likely need an opportunity to show that last season’s struggles are behind him. At this point, Montembeault’s preseason appearances are the only recent sample Hughes can use when discussing with other clubs.

Upcoming Canadiens Roster Decisions

Mike Matheson is listed day-to-day with a lower body injury since October 13. Similar to Montembeault, he has not been on the ice since the announcement and there’s no sign of him being around the team. While the start of his absence coincided with Kaiden Guhle’s return, it allowed the Habs to recall David Reinbacher from the AHL.

Reinbacher made his NHL season debut on Saturday, and it was a rough beginning. Two turnovers on the same shift resulted into the Sabres burying the puck behind Fowler. Martin St. Louis was happy with how the rookie bounced back after that shift to finish the contest. When Matheson returns, it is safe to assume that one of Reinbacher or Adam Engstrom will end up in Laval.

On Saturday morning, St. Louis spoke about the advantages of having three right shooting defencemen in the lineup. That alone, might give Reinbacher an advantage to remain with the big club. On the other hand, Engstrom’s additional professional experience may give him an edge.

Up front, the coaching staff took an easy decision on Saturday by removing Owen Beck from the lineup for Oliver Kapanen’s return. When Florian Xhekaj is ready from his day-to-day injury, the easy decision is to keep him in the press box. The next difficult decision will be when Ivan Demidov is cleared to return. On October 6, the club announced a two-to-four week absence for the forward.

Rocket Notes

Over the weekend, the Laval Rocket extended their win streak to five games with victories against the Belleville Senators (Ottawa) and the Utica Comets (New Jersey Devils).

On Friday, the Senators had a commanding 4-0 lead in the second period before the Rocket got on the board with a power play goal. After scoring another power-play goal in the third period, Laval completed the comeback with two goals in the final five minutes. In the extra time, Luke Mittelstadt sealed the comeback win with a power play goal.

Special teams had a major role in Saturday’s contest. Laval scored two power play goals, while blanking Utica’s eight power plays on their way to a 4-0 shutout win.

The story of the early season is Luke Mittelstadt. He got six points over the weekend, including Friday’s overtime winner. Through Saturday’s games, he leads the AHL in points (13), and power play points (9).

The Rocket are back at Place Bell this week to host the Syracuse Crunch (Tampa Bay Lightning) on Wednesday, followed by a back-to-back against the league’s newest franchise Hamilton Hammers (New York Islanders) starting on Friday.