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........

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