Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Jordan Weal 

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Paul Byron 

Nick Cousins – Nate Thompson – Nick Suzuki

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot – Christian Folin

Carey Price – Keith Kinkaid

Mike Reilly, Cale Fleury, Joel Armia

Game Report

Many NHL players despise afternoon games. But not Carey Price. ‘I’d like more of them,’ said Price following a superb 32-save performance in a matinee match against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

Price was outstanding as the Blues dominated possession at home robbing Sammy Blais, Vince Dunn and handling all six shots from Alex Pietrangelo.

It was the second period that Montreal broke the game open as Brendan Gallagher scored right off the the faceoff, just six seconds into the frame. Blues goaltender Jake Allen clearly wasn’t ready for the weak shot from the blue line describing the moment as taking “the wind out of our sails.” The Habs scored twice more in the period, shutting down the Blues in the third for the victory.

The Canadiens special teams deserve praise with the power-play going 2-for-5 and the penalty-kill was perfect. Coming into the game, Montreal had scored a power-play goal in every game this season, except a week ago against the Blues. They fixed that stat  today ending a streak of 15 straight kills by St. Louis.

With two wins over the Blues in a week, the Canadiens have swept the season series for the first time since 2014-15.

Montreal has now earned back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The Canadiens are back on the ice again Sunday in Minnesota with a 5 pm. rematch against the Wild.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Artturi Lehkonen, Jordan Weal, Phillip Danault, Shea Weber

▼  Christian Folin, Nick Cousins