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Quiet Win in Columbus | RECAP: MTL @ CBJ

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens vs Columbus Blue Jackets: Habs, Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game, Interviews, NHL, Three-Stars

FINAL | Game 20, Away Game 9 | Wednesday November 23, 2022
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

CANADIENS

Montreal

3-1

BLUE JACKETS

Columbus

Jake Evans, Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach

Evgenii Dadonov – Christian Dvorak – Brendan Gallagher

Joel Armia – Sean Monahan – Josh Anderson

Michael Pezzetta – Jake Evans – Juraj Slafkovsky

Defence pairings

Mike Matheson – David Savard

Joel Edmundson – Kaiden Guhle

Arber Xhekaj – Johnathan Kovacevic

Goaltenders

Sam Montembeault – Jake Allen

Scratches

Chris Wideman, Jordan Harris

Injuries

Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Mike Hoffman (upper-body), Jonathan Drouin (upper-body)

Game Report

This type of game is known as a low-event contest. In other words, it was a snooze-fest. But for the Montreal Canadiens who were trailing early in the last two matches, boring is good!

The cannon was quiet in Columbus as there was no scoring for the first 40 minutes.

It was not a challenging night for either goaltender as the game was played well away from the scoring areas. The Canadiens generated just three high-danger scoring chances for the entire game. The Blue Jackets tested Sam Montembeault in the middle period, but the Canadiens backup faced just one high-danger scoring chance in the first and third periods combined.

With Montreal’s goaltending struggling of late, limiting opposition chances was exactly the recipe for the style of game needed to help Montembeault’s confidence. The Canadiens had allowed at least four goals in each of their previous five games.

It was the first time Montreal limited the opposition to one goal this season.

Marty St. Louis continues to tinker with defensive pairs. For the first time this season, he broke up the successful pairing of Kaiden Guhle with David Savard. This follows the dismantling of the Habs second best duo of Jordan Harris with Johnathan Kovacevic.

Up Next

The Canadiens will continue their short two-game road trip in Chicago with a Black Friday matinee against the Blackhawks.

Be sure to watch for our Game Day Preview on Friday afternoon.

Plus

▲  Jake Evans, David Savard, Kirby Dach, Cole Caufield

Minus

▼  Josh Anderson, Joel Armia, Johnathan Kovacevic, Joel Edmundson, Arber Xhekaj,  Evgenii Dadonov

Game Preview

Check out the game preview here: Back in Columbus | PREVIEW: MTL @ CBJ

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   BLUE JACKETS
29 Shots 31
45 Face-off % 55
0-for-3 Power Play 0-for-3
11 Penalty Minutes 11
13 Hits 15
42 Corsi For 48
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (10-9-1) 0 0 3 3
Blue Jackets (7-11-1) 0 0 1 1
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Xhekaj (3), Savard (1), Monahan (5)-EN
  • CBJ: Olivier (2)
  • MTL: Montembeault (W) (4-2-1)
  • CBJ: Korpisalo (L) (3-3-1)

Stars of the Game

Official NHL Three Stars
  1. David Savard  MTL
  2. Sam Montembeault  MTL
  3. Mathieu Olivier  CBJ

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Marty St. Louis

  • “I liked our start to the game, especially when you compare it to other debuts recently,” said Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis. We were up against a team that defended well, didn’t cheat and always had players in the neutral zone.”

Kirby Dach

  • “We followed the same plan and played the same way. We had made a group decision to play better. We are smart enough to know that we were far from an acceptable level against the Sabers. We wanted to bounce back and that’s what we did.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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