MONTREAL — Sounds that were unimaginable just months ago: Massive cheers at the Bell Centre for Chris Kreider.
Of course, you knew they’d ring out at full volume as soon as the former New York Rangers villain scored his first goal with the Montreal Canadiens. And they did after Kreider parked himself outside Samuel Ersson’s crease and shovelled home a Nick Suzuki pass to open the scoring in a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators to close out the pre-season.
Less predictable was how Canadiens fans would react to Samuel Montembeault’s first appearance in front of them this fall, and not just because he was coming off a catastrophic winter.
Let’s just say the 29-year-old didn’t arrive at training camp as the fan favourite to win a job in the crease. Especially not with ready-for-primetime Jacob Fowler looking to cement his place in Montreal before potentially pushing playoff hero Jakub Dobes out of the starter’s chair.
If Montembeault got a predictably warm reception as soon as he hit the ice for warmups, what he got shortly after relieving Fowler halfway through Saturday’s game was something not even he could have dreamt of.
It was only last February when boos were raining down on Montembeault after his eighth straight loss at the Bell Centre. But in this game, the cheers erupted for him as soon as he made his first sequence of saves, including three of them in succession as the Canadiens scrambled on the penalty kill right after he entered the net. The fans kept getting louder and louder until Montembeault left the ice having stopped all 14 shots in regulation and four of five he faced in the pre-planned shootout that wrapped the evening.
Talk about soul-soothing.
“To have that love was really nice,” Montembeault said.
He didn’t have to mention how it sure beat the hate he received for his bewildering 2025-26 season, which came just one year after he posted the fifth-best goals-saved-above-expected average in the NHL in 2024-25.
It would be a stretch to say Montembeault has completely won Canadiens fans back over by stopping 34 of 35 shots through three half-games of pre-season hockey, but it is still reasonable to say he’s won a job back.
And Montembeault’s mentality might keep him in it — and keep Fowler baking in Laval — for longer than anyone would’ve thought before this campaign started less than two weeks ago.
He’s not taking anything for granted.
“It’s was a new start, everything started back at zero,” Montembeault said. “Even had a good pre-season, but once it starts back up Tuesday it’s all zeroes again. So, put that behind me.”
Maybe keep the cheers ringing in your ears, though, Sam.
That wasn’t the only surprise of this training camp.
How about Luke Mittelstadt? A seventh-round pick in 2023 who had a cup of coffee in the American Hockey League last season and seemingly guzzled down a pot of it before this training camp?
The 23-year-old was buzzing. He played so well with each passing day that he earned over 20 minutes of ice time at the Bell Centre in the final game.
Considering how Mittelstadt handled those minutes, we’ll predict he’ll play some more of them in this building at some point over the next 84 games.
At the other end of the spectrum, 33-year-old veteran Phillip Danault surprised us a bit in the pre-season as well. Considering he didn’t have a goal before being traded back to Montreal 30 games into his season with the Los Angeles Kings, seeing him score three in exhibition was somewhat jarring.
More jarring is the speed at which he’s been moving since camp started.
Last time Danault came into a contract season in Montreal — in 2021 — it got off on the wrong foot. The context was markedly different, but there was still something to learn from it.
“I think just put it aside and play free,” Danault said after scoring another beauty against the Senators.
Whatever methodology he’s employing this time around appears to be paying dividends.
Florian Xhekaj’s approach to training camp will pay off, too, sooner than later.
He did the opposite of surprise us this time around, turning his limited professional experience into a springboard towards the NHL by just being himself — a rough-and-tumble, relentless forechecker who’s willing to take on anyone and everyone.
“He certainly doesn’t have an identity crisis,” said head coach Martin St. Louis. “He knows what he is and what he can bring, and he brought it very consistently throughout this camp.”
Was it enough to push an established, contracted NHLer out of the crowded picture in Montreal? We say yes, though it may take a bit more time than two days to make that happen.
If he makes the team, good for Xhekaj.
But even if he doesn’t, the countdown is already on for his time officially starting in Montreal.
The countdown to the regular season is on, too, thank goodness.
Just two more sleeps and off we go.