Usually when a goaltender gets hit in any professional league in the world, teammates will rush to his defence on the ice. That was not the case in Saturday night's game after Zack Kassian of the Edmonton Oilers hit Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens behind the net. Here's the video:
Habs' Michael Pezzetta did challenge Kassian later in the game, but it didn't amount to much. Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme was clearly disappointed in his team's response.
"I want to see five red sweaters go to the corner...I would never ask anyone to fight, but I want to see five red sweaters in the corner," said Ducharme.
It's a reasonable request from any coach when their goaltender is hit. Montembeault was fine, but that's not really the point. Montreal is having an awful season but that's really no excuse to leave your netminder out to dry like this.
