{"id":598050,"date":"2026-04-12T00:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T00:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/598050\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T00:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T00:07:09","slug":"canadiens-make-major-goalie-call-before-final-home-game-of-season-vs-blue-jackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/598050\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens make major goalie call before final home game of season vs. Blue Jackets"},"content":{"rendered":"


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

Photo credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Montreal Canadiens play their final home regular-season game tonight at the Bell Centre vs. Columbus, with major Atlantic Division implications.<\/p>\n

For the occasion, they will host the Columbus Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n

The stakes are high: the Canadiens are in a tight race to finish atop the Atlantic Division, or at least secure second place to gain home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Considering the importance of tonight’s matchup, Martin St-Louis will, without much surprise, rely on his number one goaltender.<\/p>\n

According to information reported by journalist Renaud Lavoie, it is indeed the outstanding Jakub Dobes who is expected to get the start.<\/p>\n

This decision is entirely logical.<\/p>\n

Dobes, who could also collect his 30th win of the season tonight, is on a phenomenal run and has not suffered a loss in nearly a month (dating back to March 20).<\/p>\n

However, it is the identity of the man who will wear the backup cap on the bench alongside him that is raising questions today.<\/p>\n

Samuel Montembeault could replace Jacob Fowler as backup amid Canadiens\u2019 back-to-back schedule<\/p>\n

Normally, young Jacob Fowler is expected to serve as the backup goaltender.<\/p>\n

However, the schedule complicates matters: the Canadiens must play a second game within 24 hours tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in New York against the Islanders.<\/p>\n

This is where the name Samuel Montembeault seriously comes into play.<\/p>\n

Last week, in a similar back-to-back scenario, the organization decided to send Fowler ahead to Montreal in order to allow him to better prepare and rest.<\/p>\n

To compensate for his absence on the bench during the first game (last Saturday), veteran Samuel Montembeault was dressed as the backup.<\/p>\n

Although the NHL recently reprimanded the Canadiens\u2019 management for this practice, it is very possible that the team decides to repeat the move tonight.<\/p>\n

Dressing Montembeault would ensure optimal preparation for Fowler ahead of his very likely start tomorrow against the Islanders.<\/p>\n

This is a situation worth monitoring.<\/p>\n

The Montreal Canadiens will close out their regular season with two road games (Sunday against the Islanders and Tuesday against the Flyers).<\/p>\n

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

POLL<\/p>\n

3 HOURS AGO|212 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Canadiens make major goalie call before final home game of season vs. Blue Jackets<\/p>\n

Do you think the Canadiens will dress Samuel Montembeault tonight as backup?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images The Montreal Canadiens play their final home regular-season game tonight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,755,33244,37777,10397,743,448,37776,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-598050","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-columbus-blue-jackets","11":"tag-jacob-fowler","12":"tag-jakub-dobes","13":"tag-martin-st-louis","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-samuel-montembeault","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598050","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=598050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}