The miasma that has characterized the Montreal Canadiens’ season continued Saturday night in a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. It is assumed that the performance was superior to those achieved on Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken (October 29; 8-2 defeat) and Thursday against the Washington Capitals (October 31; 6-3 defeat). Still, familiar negative patterns reared their ugly heads against a team that, on paper at least, the Canadiens could have conquered. Here are the takeaways, good and bad.

Montembeault bounces back

Until a few weeks ago, netminder Sam Montembeault was celebrated in Montreal and everywhere where the Habs faithful live. Then he got hooked against the New York Rangers and Kraken in the span of a single week. From heroes to zero in a hockey mecca like Montreal.

He was the less busy of the two goalkeepers on Saturday, facing 23 shots on target compared to 26 that his counterpart Alex Nedeljkovic had to repel. In addition, he conceded two, while his rival only conceded one. Some might look at this and cry foul, but Montembeault needed a game like Saturday. After some truly laughable performances over the last fortnight, a relatively easy outing in which he sorted things out was in order.

In that sense, the 28-year-old has done an admirable job. Few rebounds were given up, he often caught the puck in his mitt and seemed much more comfortable than he had in some time. It’s hard to blame him for any of the shots that went past him, especially considering Sidney “the Habs Killer” Crosby committed the act twice. The first was pure skill. The second was a wrist shot who moved at dangerous speed and through traffic during a power play.

Let’s talk about Montembeault maybe be part of team Canada The 4 Nations confrontation next February has calmed down. A 3.67 goals against average (GAA) and .891 save percentage (SV%) will be enough. But for now, the objective is not to be part of the national selection for a tournament scheduled in three months. It’s to help the Canadiens, and Montembeault did it Saturday to the best of his abilities.

Saint-Louis juggles with the lines in vain

When the lineups were revealed shortly before the match, some people were caught off guard. This includes us has Hockey Writers. Josh Anderson found himself on the first line alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Joel Armia primarily played with Jake Evans and Brendan Gallagher at third. Juraj Slafkovsky, usually on the first line, was on the second line with Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach.

There are always two sides to the coin, although this can frustrate people who see things resolutely in black and white. On the one hand, head coach Martin St. Louis may be questioned for mixing things up against a vulnerable opponent. The Penguins had only nine points coming into the game. Even after this game, they are still tied for second worst teams in the NHL in goals conceded with 50. They are giving up the most shots on target (390) and are 18th in SV% with 0.894. Why not see what Montreal’s regular lines can do about this?

Related: The Canadiens should probably send Xhekaj to the AHL at this point

On the other hand, the reality is that the Canadiens were once again a weak offensive team. They have had the sixth fewest shots on target (300) and have scored just 2.75 goals per game. Let’s be frank: Caufield has a lot to do with the fact that the Habs even flirt with an average of three per game. So why not change things up, especially against a mediocre defensive team?

Both arguments have their merit. No matter what happened on Saturday, some fans were going to scream that they were right and others were wrong. It didn’t work. At least, not until 5:23 of the final period when Montreal, trailing 2-0, finally got on the board. And there you have it, Christian Dvorákof all people, finally got its first of 2024-25 by capitalizing on its own rebound. The scoring opportunity was due to pressure from Montreal in the Pittsburgh zone which produced a turnover.

Although the pressure on Pittsburgh’s defense in the final minutes was nice, Montreal’s offense remained moribund for most of the evening. With a few minutes left in the first period, the shots were tied at 3-3. It was as if nothing was happening.

Same old problems for Canadians

The lack of offensive prowess wasn’t the only problem. The Pennsylvania-based unit is not known as a particularly fast skating club. Despite this, Montreal seemed sluggish and indifferent for long periods. It’s not like the Habs don’t have fast skaters. Lane Hutson and Caufield can pass tons of opponents, but Montreal was stuck in neutral for most of the night.

In addition, the Habs continue to have difficulty with gifts. They committed 20 in this game, according to ESPN countdown. Sure, it was less than on Halloween against the Capitals (they had 24), but even in a game where the opposition doesn’t have a great offense, it’s important to limit bad habits. Montreal sometimes seems confused and nervous when going out or clearing his zone. Pittsburgh’s first game was the end product of a Montreal gift.

They say that St. Louis is a “players’ coach.” GOOD. There are several reasons why this can be a good thing. Since he is a “players coach,” he and his team need to get messages across to the players. Why is this team so careless with the puck? Why is there so little creativity when they have it? When they said this season was going to be a new chapter in the rebuilding process, they weren’t kidding.

There are other details about this game that we could cover. Slafkovsky received a hit from Noel Acciari late in the third period that tested him hard. This led to fights at the final whistle. It can be argued that this was a show of character from the team. Sure, but it would have been nice to see more character during the game when the result was on the line. Other than the last 10 minutes, it was a sleepy performance.

Montreal returns home for a game on Tuesday (November 5) when the Calgary Flames visit the Bell Centre. After that, their travels begin again for a quartet of games. It won’t get any easier for Montreal in the coming weeks. No one is expecting a Stanley Cup this season, just decent efforts. From players to coaches, they are the only ones who can find the means to achieve this. We just sit idly by, waiting for it.