{"id":583386,"date":"2026-04-05T07:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583386\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T07:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:55:11","slug":"we-now-know-why-samuel-montembeault-is-backing-up-the-canadiens-against-the-devils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583386\/","title":{"rendered":"We now know why Samuel Montembeault is backing up the Canadiens against the Devils"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Photo <\/p>\n

Photo credit: Screenshot<\/p>\n

We got a surprise tonight surrounding the matchup between the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n

While Jakub Dobes is currently in net in New Jersey, it is his backup who is drawing attention.<\/p>\n

While everyone expected to see young Jacob Fowler sitting at the end of the bench, it was instead veteran Samuel Montembeault who took the ice to serve as the backup goaltender against the Devils.<\/p>\n

Respected Sportsnet reporter Eric Engels quickly solved the mystery on his X account shortly before puck drop.<\/p>\n

“Believe the Canadiens sent Fowler back to MTL ahead of Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Montembeault backing up.”<\/p>\n

– Eric Engels, Sportsnet<\/p>\n

According to his information, the organization did in fact make the strategic decision to quietly send Jacob Fowler directly back to Montreal.<\/p>\n

The young goaltender has already flown to Montreal to begin preparing for tomorrow\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Canadiens manage Jacob Fowler\u2019s workload with early return ahead of Bell Centre start<\/p>\n

Recall that the Canadiens will complete this short home-and-home series against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night, this time at the Bell Centre.<\/p>\n

By sending Fowler home early, the team avoids exposing him to the fatigue associated with late-night travel after Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

He will be able to get a good night\u2019s sleep and benefit from optimal preparation before making his official start in front of his home crowd.<\/p>\n

This travel logistics decision explains the surprise presence of Samuel Montembeault in uniform tonight at the Prudential Center to backup Dobes.<\/p>\n

Samuel Montembeault, 29, is a 6-foot-3 goaltender who was selected in the third round by the Florida Panthers in 2015.<\/p>\n

Jacob Fowler, 21, is a 6-foot-2 goaltender who was selected in the third round by the Montreal Canadiens in 2023.<\/p>\n

Do you like this decision?<\/p>\n

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

7 HOURS AGO|188 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

We now know why Samuel Montembeault is backing up the Canadiens against the Devils<\/p>\n

Do you agree with the Canadiens\u2019 strategic decision to send Jacob Fowler back to Montreal early?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Screenshot We got a surprise tonight surrounding the matchup between the Montreal Canadiens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,189411,33244,37777,743,749,448,37776,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-583386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-eric-engels","11":"tag-jacob-fowler","12":"tag-jakub-dobes","13":"tag-montreal-canadiens","14":"tag-new-jersey-devils","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-samuel-montembeault","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}