Montreal Canadiens: Three Players Outperforming Expectations This Season

Jake Allen

Jake Allen is known as a terrific teammate and a great veteran to have on a rebuilding roster. Even though the team struggled the past two seasons, a player with experience, including being on the Stanley Cup winning roster for the St. Louis Blues in 2019, is a great boost for the younger players on the team.

It would be easy for a young group of blue liners to get dejected and down on themselves after losing a couple of lopsided games. But Allen gives them a voice of reason that allows them to focus on the big picture and take things one game at a time.

While that is all well and good and valuable for a team that lost a lot over the past two seasons, it did not lead to great numbers for Allen on the ice. He arrived in Montreal in 2020 and helped the team reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. He kept the team afloat when Carey Price was hurt and allowed the team’s star netminder to take his time returning from injury.

Last season, Allen played 42 games and had a 3.55 GAA with a .891 SV%. The previous year he had a 3.30 GAA with a .905 SV%. Now, the team was decimated by injuries each season and porous defensively, so the numbers don’t tell the whole story. You would expect him to be better on a team with some defensive structure and a lineup that has NHL players from top to bottom.

But did anyone expect him to be this good early on?

Allen has a 2.72 GAA with a .927 SV% in five games to begin the year. The team is 3-1-1 in games Allen plays and that is while he faces an average of 38.4 shots per game. He is getting absolutely peppered with shots but continues to turn them away and allow the Habs to collect 7 of ten points in his games.

Who knows how long he can keep this up but so far, Allen has been incredible for the Canadiens.