CANADIENS
Montreal

2-1

MAPLE LEAFS
Toronto

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Desharnais – Shaw
Radulov – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Lehkonen – Plekanec – Byron
Danault – Mitchell – Flynn[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Emelin – Weber
Markov – Petry
Beaulieu – Pateryn
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Montoya

Scratches

Mikhail Sergachev

Injured Reserve

Zach Redmond

Game Report

Prior to tonight’s Toronto – Montreal game there was, as usual, a lot of Habs fans ridiculing the woeful “Laffs.” Despite Toronto owning last place last season, I’d be a little careful with that talk, Habs fans. There’s nothing ‘usual’ about the 2016-17 version of the Maple Leafs.

Toronto is an extremely well-coached team with an abundance of young talent. They play a structured system, they are very creative in the offensive zone and tonight the Leafs were the better team on the ice for long stretches of the game.

The Canadiens were not the same team we’ve seen over the past few games. With the lines turned upside down, we had to be satisfied with snippets of dazzling play: the awareness of Alexander Radulov to send a perfect pass to Alex Galchenyuk was a thing of beauty.

With David Desharnais occupying the first line centre role and shooting blanks — no goals, no assists, no shots, no blocks, no hits — and just a 20 per cent success at the face-off dot, this game was more like a performance in December 2015 than October 2016.

But what the Canadiens didn’t have last December was Carey Price in goal and Shea Weber on defence. The two players asserted their will and combined to give Montreal it’s eighth victory of the season.

Weber continues to dominate not only on defence (as could have been expected) but on offence as well. In nine games, Weber has four goals and six assists for 10 points to lead the Canadiens. Weber already has three power-play goals, three game-winning goals and is a plus-12.

Price made 37 saves on the way to his fifth win in five starts. Price continues to make saves that no other goaltender would, including a spectacular glove save on Connor Carrick. But, the concern is that the Canadiens could be falling back into the pattern of relying on Price too much.~~~

▲     Carey Price, Shea Weber, Alexander Radulov

▼     David Desharnais

1. Carey Price  MTL
2. Alex Galchenyuk  MTL
3. Shea Weber  MTL

• “We always insist that our players play well at both ends of the ice, and [Alexander Radulov] showed good work ethic in that sense to kill their game a bit tonight. Does [his defensive play] surprise me? No. It’s what we expect from everyone on this team.”
• “Carey (Price) was outstanding tonight. A lot of credit goes to the Leafs. They played a really good game. This is a good, young team with a lot of speed.”
• “[Shea Weber] is playing excellent hockey. He’s scoring big goals, making big plays at the right times. He’s acting like a real leader. A leader to me is based on your actions, and he’s had a very positive impact on our team.”

Carey Price

• “I’m feeling pretty good, but I’m not content by any means. The key to long term success is realizing that there’s a lot more work ahead.”
• “[The Maple Leafs] played very well. They played with a lot of speed, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of skill. That’s going to be a really good hockey team.”

Shea Weber

• “I think I’ve seen it all. [Carey Price] is one of those guys who’s so positionally sound, so smart, and he reads the game so well he makes it look easy.”
• “I’m definitely not surprised, I know how good he is. [Carey Price] is one of the best in the world. He’s just so consistent every night and gives us a chance to win. Tonight, when we weren’t at our best early on, he kept us in it and we found a way to get our legs under us.”

Alexander Radulov

• “I knew that he was a great goaltender [before I arrived in Montreal], and it’s good that last year is behind him. We just have to help him see every shot and make that first stop. It feels good when you have Carey behind you.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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