Canadiens forced to make a change in goal.

The Montreal Canadiens just can't seem to catch a break this season and it appears that this weekend will unfortunately be no exception for the Habs.

On Saturday night while the Canadiens were taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, veteran Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen was forced to leave the game early after he suffered an injury. The injury occurred when Allen made a sprawling save that would eventually lead to Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews scoring his 50th goal in the span of just 50 games, and it seems that injury will now keep him out for at least the near future.

On Sunday the Canadiens announced that they were calling up 22 year old goaltender Cayden Primeau from the Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League. It seems highly unlikely that this is mere coincidence and instead signals to me that the Canadiens expect Allen will miss at least some time with whatever he tweaked during Saturday's loss to the Maple Leafs.

Allen was initially signed to be a backup for Canadiens star goaltender Carey Price but has taken on a significant workload this season in lieu of Price's absence. Allen has made 35 appearances for the Habs while earning a 3.30 goals against average and a .905 save percentage on a team that had its fair share of struggles this season. Primeau on the other hand has looked less than stellar when called upon this season, which is another reason I suspect the call up comes only as a result of Allen being unavailable.

Primeau has had 12 appearances for the Canadiens at the NHL level this season and has a 4.62 goals against average and a .868 save percentage, not numbers that are going to inspire confidence from any head coach or general manager.

The Canadiens will likely now lean on Sam Montembeault moving forward, especially considering he had a decent showing against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Montembault stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced for a .920 save percentage in relief of the injured Jake Allen.