The Montreal Canadiens lost 4-2 to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, which gave them a 2-4 record in pre-season competition. They won their first two contests and then dropped their last four against rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
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Unlike their previous encounter on Tuesday, the Canadiens fell behind 2-0 early and could never overcome a tame Senators team, with Shane Pinto scoring a hat trick.
Montreal has three days off to make final roster adjustments and prepare for Wednesday night’s season opener against the Maple Leafs.
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Here are some takeaways from the pre-season finale against the Senators.
Montreal’s Power Play is Atrocious
The Canadiens finished the pre-season with no power-play goals and went 0-for-30 on the man advantage in their six games.
During the offseason, Alex Burrows stepped away from his coaching duties and handed the power-play responsibilities to head coach Martin St-Louis. As a Hall of Famer who netted 317 points on the man advantage, it seemed his talking over would inject life into the special teams.
However, after 18 periods of hockey, the power play is one of the worst aspects of the Canadiens’ game. Until they score a goal and build confidence, every opportunity they get will hamper their ability to keep the flow going.
There’s an argument to be made that the power play went out of wack when Patrik Laine went down or that Montreal iced a different lineup every night, so there was no opportunity to build chemistry.
However, when the top guys played, they still didn’t score, and when the games start for real, if this team can’t find a way to improve with extra skaters on the ice, this will be a long season.
Xhekaj’s Continues to Play on the Edge
Arber Xhekaj has made more headlines this pre-season, not for his offensive contributions but for the body-crushing hits, whether questionable or not.
Of course, with these hits, retaliation happens, and for the third straight game, Xhekaj threw his gloves down and served a five-minute fighting major. At least on Saturday night, he didn’t get tossed from the game, despite the extent to which he went to lay a cross-check.
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The bright side is when Xhekaj keeps his head in the game, he can do more than hit opponents and cause chaos; he can contribute to the offense.
With 12 minutes to go, Xhekaj tallied the Canadiens’ second goal on the night, his first pre-season goal. In just 44 games last season, he scored three goals and ten points and somehow led the team in penalty minutes.
He plays on an edge and will not be relied upon to score goals or quarterback the power play. But, if he can be deployed in situations that help the team on the scoreboard instead of settling scores, it would go a long way toward his longevity in the league.
Montembeault Has to Be a Short-Term Solution
Saturday night was the pre-season finale, and despite four top players not skating, the Canadiens sent out their number one goalie against a Senators team that also didn’t dress all their veterans.
In the end, Sam Montembeault had a subpar night between the pipes, giving up a hat trick to Shane Pinto and making only 15 saves on 19 shots to finish his evening with a .789 SV%.
Last season, he had a save percentage below .900 on 11 occasions, all of which resulted in losses, two of which came in overtime. Despite giving up only five goals in pre-season action, he made 37 saves on 42 shots to produce a .880 SV%.
The Canadiens opened their schedule with back-to-back shutouts, followed those up with two one-goal losses to the Maple Leafs, and then imploded against the Senators, surrendering eight goals in six periods while only scoring five.
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Ultimately, Montembeault should have been at his best on Saturday night but had his team in the hole before the game was six minutes old. Once the Canadiens got on the board, their netminder gave up two more goals that sucked the life out of the lineup.
Considering that the 27-year-old is under contract for two more seasons, if and when Montreal returns to contender status, they will need the best version of Montembeault or risk never getting there with him between the pipes.
In the past two games, the Canadiens ran into an elite goalie in Linus Ullmark, who can steal games. However, ahead of the 2024-25 season, Montreal lacks the same in its goalie duo, as evident from their performances against the Senators this week.
The Canadiens open the 2024-25 season on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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