Canadiens @ Golden Knights: Price, Suzuki Lead Habs | GAME 5 RECAP

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Rick Stephens
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Carey price, Nick Suzuki (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)

Montreal Canadiens vs Vegas Golden Knights Recap: Habs Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game Interviews, NHL Three-Stars

FINAL | Round 3, Game 5 | Tuesday June 22, 2021

Canadiens lead series 3-2
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV

CANADIENS

Montreal

4-1

 Vegas Golden Knights logo

GOLDEN KNIGHTS

Vegas
Carey price, Nick Suzuki (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

Artturi Lehkonen – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Joel Armia – Eric Staal – Corey Perry

Defence pairings

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Erik Gustafsson – Jon Merrill

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Jake Allen

Scratches

Tomas Tatar, Michael Frolik, Charlie Lindgren, Brett Kulak, Alexander Romanov

Black Aces

Alex Belzile, Laurent Dauphin, Lukas Vejdemo, Jesse Ylonen, Cale Fleury, Otto Leskinen, Xavier Ouellet, Cayden Primeau, Michael McNiven

Injuries

Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Jake Evans (concussion)

COVID protocol

Dominique Ducharme

Game Report

Score first and play your game. That’s the formula for success for the Montreal Canadiens. Getting a lead allows the Habs to be comfortable in their structure and poised in their execution.

After the frustrating loss in game 4, it was a character win for the Habs to go into Vegas and pick up their third win of this series. It was Montreal’s most impressive win of the series. The Canadiens are now just one game away from the Stanley Cup final.

But the team’s focus must remain on this semi-final series. The fourth win will be the toughest to secure but the Canadiens now have the opportunity to do so at the Bell Centre on Thursday night.

All hands on deck

It was Jesperi Kotkaniemi who opened the scoring following the play as Josh Anderson drove to the net. Marc-Andre Fleury’s approach on the initial save took him well out of the play leaving a yawning cage for Kotkaniemi.

Nick Suzuki had a strong game with a goal and two assists but was just 22 percent at the faceoff dot. Cole Caufield scored a power-play goal, his third of the playoffs.

It was an impressive performance for the Habs young guns but they had a good deal of help from the veterans with a goal from Eric Staal and a terrific backhand pass from Corey Perry for Caufield’s goal.

The Golden Knights were frustrated by the Canadiens strong work in the neutral zone, and the pressure of the forecheckers particularly Joel Armia and Artturi Lehkonen. On the back end, the big four defencemen deserve a huge amount of credit for each playing in the neighborhood of 25 minutes with Shea Weber and Jeff Petry managing with injuries.

Despite the Canadiens allowing just 15 shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, nine were high danger scoring chances. Once again Carey Price made sensational saves on the Knights best shooters. And, in the third period, when Vegas was pressing, Price made multiple game-saving stops. Price thoroughly earned his first star selection.

Up Next

The Canadiens played a complete game in Vegas taking a 3-2 lead in the series. They head home for game 6 on Thursday at the Bell Centre.

Plus

▲  Carey Price, Nick Suzuki, Tyler Toffoli, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Shea Weber, Eric Staal, Cole Caufield, Joel Edmundson, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joel Armia, Artturi Lehkonen

Minus

▼  Jon Merrill, Erik Gustafsson, Phillip Danault

Game Preview

Check out the game preview here: Canadiens @ Golden Knights: Back to Vegas | HABS GAME 5 PREVIEW

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   GOLDEN KNIGHTS
26 Shots 27
42 Face-off % 58
1-for-2 Power Play 0-for-2
4 Penalty Minutes 4
44 Hits 35
35 Corsi For 49
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (11-5) 1 2 1 – – 4
Golden Knights (10-8) 0 0 1 – – 1
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Kotkaniemi (5), Staal (2), Caufield (3)-PPG, Suzuki (5)-ENG
  • VGK: Pacioretty (5)
  • MTL: Price (W) 11-5 | Sv% .963
  • VGK: Fleury (L) 9-7  | Sv% .880

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
NHL3stars
  1. Carey Price  MTL
  2. Nick Suzuki  MTL
  3. Max Pacioretty  VGK
 Price

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Luke Richardson

  • “We’re definitely excited with what we’re doing right now, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We have good experience in the dressing room. They say the right things. We finish off games the right way. We’re going to go into the next game, and it’s one game to win. That’s what we need to do. That’s what we’re going to focus on. Our leadership really leads this team in the right direction. The coaching staff and the management just support that. We’re going in the right direction, but we’re not there yet. We’ve just got to make sure that it’s understood how much work it took tonight to win that game and put us in this position. We have to take the next step to make sure that we get to where we want to go.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi

  • “It’s the confidence that everyone has. There’s a mindset that we really have nothing to lose right now. Everything we do is just to win. If everyone trusts everyone like we’re doing right now, that will take us a long way.”

Eric Staal

  • “That’s been our mindset this whole playoffs, continuing to do what we do, regardless of what happens. I don’t think we change much. We do what we do every single shift. Every moment we have, every opportunity, we have to try and be difference-makers for our team. Each guy does that. The result wasn’t there last game, but we’re trying to continue to build our game better and better through this series, and tonight was a good step. It’s the oldest cliché in hockey, but the fourth one is going to be the hardest. We’re fortunate to have the opportunity at home, and we’ll be ready to go in Game 6.”

Phillip Danault

  • “I don’t like to say that we’re perfect during a series. We still have work to do. We’re all trending upward together. Carey (Price) has been incredible for us. He’s been the most important factor in terms of killing penalties. Everybody is on the same page. We’re working together. It’s about teamwork, like the win.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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1 COMMENT

  1. salut-bien chers amis allhabs,
    incroyable,incroyable
    need 4,1 more to go eh,
    our recipe?
    leadership,CH31.team-play,CH31.discipline,CH31.more leadership/team-play/discipline,more CH31.and of course our espritsCH du passe/present are with us for sure,eh
    merci pour le post-game/l’apres-match
    infos,analises,projections et commentaires
    a demain en provenance du
    Forum-Bell de Montreal/Montreal-Bell Forum
    que les graces/benedictions de saint-jean baptiste soit parmi nous et notre club-saintCH
    guyCH10 soit proche et present en prieres et pensees

Comments are closed.