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RECAP | Canadiens – Maple Leafs: Habs Complete Thrilling Comeback

Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs   Game Recap: Habs Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game Interviews, NHL Three-Stars

FINAL / SO | Game 2, Away Game 2 | Saturday October 5, 2019
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

CANADIENS

Montreal

6-5

MAPLE LEAFS

Toronto

Carey Price (Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Nick Suzuki

Jonathan Drouin – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia

Paul Byron  – Nate Thompson – Jordan Weal

Defence pairings

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Cale Fleury

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Keith Kinkaid

Scratches

Nick Cousins, Mike Reilly, Christian Folin

Injuries

Noah Juulsen (headaches), Michael McCarron (shoulder), Joel Teasdale (knee)

Game Report

There is almost nothing better than the Montreal Canadiens facing the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada on a Saturday night.

Winning the game after a third period comeback and an exciting shootout is definitely better.

After two periods, it wasn’t looking good for your Habs. They were playing sloppy and making poor decisions with the puck. And the Montreal defence was atrocious.

But sometime during the second intermission, the Canadiens remembered that they were the fresh team. And that the Maple Leafs were playing the second night of a back-to-back, their third game in four nights, with their number two goalie between the pipes.

Cue the comeback.

The Habs took advantage of a fatigued Leafs team scoring four straight goals in under ten minutes of the third period. After Toronto tied the game with a late power-play goal, the stage was set for the Canadiens to earn their first win of the season in the shootout.

It’s difficult to adequately state how important Carey Price was for the win. He was the best player on the ice. Price was outstanding during the first 60-minutes but that is only part of the story.

Price made three great saves on Mitch Marner and John Tavares, two on breakaways, in the overtime period. And Price was perfect facing, Auston Matthews, Marner and Tavares in the shootout.

It was a tough night for the rookies with the Leafs exploiting mistakes by Cale Fleury and Nick Suzuki. But the young players had company, particularly on the Habs defence. Ben Chiarot, Victor Mete and Brett Kulak struggled. Against a high power offence like the Leafs, the subpar level of play proved costly.

But sometimes having the third easist schedule in the NHL comes in handy. Credit the Canadiens who took full advantage when their back was against the wall.

The Canadiens play the third game of their road trip on Wednesday in Buffalo when they face the Sabres.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Shea Weber, Brendan Gallagher, Phillip Danault

▼  Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, Cale Fleury, Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nate Thompson

The Numbers

 Game Statistics 
CANADIENS   MAPLE LEAFS
42 Shots 37
46 Face-off % 54
1-for-3 Power Play 1-for-5
10 Penalty Minutes 6
26 Hits 19
55 Corsi For 42
 Scoring Summary
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 Canadiens (1-0-1) 1 0 4 0 1 6
 Maple Leafs (2-0-1) 2 1 2 0 0 5
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Domi (1), Drouin (1)-SHG, Gallagher (1)-SHG, Petry (1)-PSG, Danault (1)-SHG | Game deciding goal: Paul Byron
  • TOR: Matthews (4), Kerfoot (1), Moore (2)-PPG, Nylander (1)-PPG, Matthews (5)-PPG
  • MTL: Price (W) 1-0-1
  • TOR: Hutchinson (OTL) 0-0-1

Stars of the Game

 NHL Official Three Stars
  1. Brendan Gallagher  MTL
  2. Paul Byron  MTL
  3. Alex Kerfoot  TOR

Watch

 Video Highlights 

What Did They Say?

 Post-game Quotes
Claude Julien  
  • “I think all good teams have leaders like that; you need them. That’s why they’re recognized as leaders, because when things get tough, they’re able to take charge.”
Shea Weber
  • “We talked about it in here. It wasn’t a great start for us. For whatever reason, they were just on top of us for a couple of periods. We got a little bit better and we didn’t panic. We hit the reset button. We said that all it was going to take was 20 minutes, and it did.”
Carey Price
  • “It was extremely entertaining. Things were looking a little bleak going into the second intermission, but we were able to stay positive, rally the troops, and have a big third. I think that was fun to watch for everybody involved.”

Jeff Petry

  • “[Carey Price] made some big saves, [John] Tavares having a breakaway. Without those key saves, the game is over. He kept us in it and gave us the opportunity to take it to a shootout and then made big saves there. We were able to get the two points.”

Max Domi

  • “[Carey Price] is unbelievable. I’ve said it many times that he’s the best goalie in the world for a reason. He just keeps showing it every night; it’s crazy how good he is. He kept us in it. We left him hanging a little bit in the first two, so we owed him; we told him that. We delivered, he held his ground and was his own self. You can’t score on that guy when he’s dialed in like that.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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