Montreal Canadiens’ goalie Sam Montembeault left the ice during Game 3 of the first-round NHL playoff series against the Washington Capitals on Friday, April 25. Montembeault was ruled out for the rest of the game with a lower-body injury.
Capitals’ goalie Logan Thompson also left the rink in the third period after a collision with teammate Dylan Strome.
Sam Montembeault Might Have a Hamstring Injury, Claim Doctors
Montembeault seemed to be clutching his left hamstring before going off injured. Medical experts and doctors speculated that he might have strained his hamstring. Dr Harjas Grewal, who posts regularly about medical injuries on social media, shared a post on X during the game.
Possibly Montembeault has a hamstring strain and that’s why he’s left the game
Hopefully it’s more a cramp and he’s potentially even back for the 3rd
Otherwise muscular strains can be quite variable and harder for goalies to compensate https://t.co/a17yICLzGA
— Dr. Harjas Grewal (@Harjas_Grewal)
Montembeault was replaced by Jakub Dobeš as the Habs emerged as 6-3 winners on the night, scoring three goals in the third period. Dobeš saved seven shots and only let in one goal during his stint.
“Obviously, he’s (Montembeault’s) a massive part of our team,” Canadiens forward Josh Anderson said via NHL.com. “He’s been solid all year, solid in these playoffs so far. It [stinks] to see him go down like that, but it’s the next man up. Obviously, Dobeš gave us some good minutes tonight, and we have full belief in him. So, we’ll see how it is tomorrow.”
Capitals goalie Logan Thompson also went off injured in the third period and appeared to favor his left leg while he was helped off the ice by his teammates. He was replaced by Charlie Lindgren and did not take part in team practice on Saturday, April 26.
“Not sure,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said when asked about the concern level for Thompson. “Haven’t talked to the trainers yet. So, I’ll get an update and then we’ll go from there.”
Canadiens Secure 1st Win in Playoff Series Against Capitals
The Habs got their first win in the playoffs against Washington on Friday. Goals from Alexandre Carrier, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Christian Dvorak, Juraj Slafkovský, and Alex Newhook secured the win.
“We try to stay calm no matter what,” Slafkovský said after the game. “We knew that it’s going to be physical and stuff. We also knew that we just had to control our emotions during the 60 minutes. Sometimes it’s hard, you know. We’ve got guys that want to fight and we had to control our emotions and focus on our game.”
For the Capitals, Connor McMichael, Jakob Chychrun, and Alex Ovechkin were scorers on the night. Washington has a 2-1 lead in the playoff series with the two teams set to face off in Game 4 on Sunday, April 27.
