Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Most Responsible For Habs Awful Record

Jake Allen

It might not be fair to point the finger at Jake Allen.

The Canadiens goaltender was brought in to be the team’s number two goalie and ensure Carey Price was healthy and rested throughout the season and ready for the playoffs. But, Price has not played at all yet and Allen has been asked to be the team’s number one goalie.

He also isn’t getting a lot of help in front of him. The Canadiens defensive zone coverage can look absolutely abysmal at times. By “at times” we do of course mean for complete games while the other team just moves the puck around.

Still, though he didn’t expect to play this much, and he probably thought the team in front of him would be better than this, Allen needs to be a little better and more consistent.

He started well, with a great game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and fine performances against the New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings, though there was a five goal game against the San Jose Sharks in there as well. Allen has made a habit of allowing five or more goals frequently, as he has pulled that off five times in 15 starts.

He had a really weird stretch from the end of October and int November where he allowed five goals and then zero goals and then five again followed by zero and then five once again. So, he stole two games, but he sandwiched them around three games where he allowed five goals in each.

In the team’s last six games, with their hopes for a successful campaign hardly a flicker, Allen has posted a 3.80 GAA and a .867 SV%. Even on bad teams, NHL goalies should have better numbers than that.

When a team is dealing with injuries and just playing poorly, they need their goaltender to step up and bring his game to a new level. Allen has stolen a couple of games early this season, but he hasn’t consistently been a difference maker for the struggling Canadiens.