CANADIENS
Montreal

2-0

COYOTES
Arizona

Game Notes:

They don’t make it easy, do they? In a game some were calling a must-win, the Habs needed a shutout by Carey Price to put away the 28th place team in the league.  The win salvaged a Western road trip where the Canadiens went a disappointing 1-2-1.

The Coyotes don’t do many things well. They are ranked 29th in goals scored per game, 28th in goals against per game and 25th in shots allowed per game.  Their power-play is 6th in the league but that was at least in part to the recently-traded Keith Yandle.  Arizona has won just one game in their last ten.  Add to that a goaltender who has struggled this season. Mike Smith is 11-32-5 with a 3.25 GAA and a .897 Sv%.

After a first period where Montreal outshot their hosts 15-5, the play was much more evenly played.  Once again the Habs had trouble finishing with the majority of their shots coming from the perimeter.  A shot chart shows very little from in front of the net. In fact, of the Habs centres, only Lars Eller and Jacob de la Rose had shots on goal, combining for five.  David Desharnais, Tomas Plekanec and Torrey Mitchell did not register a shot.

And Alex Galchenyuk was not only ineffective again tonight, he all but disappeared on the road swing.

But on a trip where Canadiens goals were at a premium, Price ensured that none would find their way past him on this night.

One positive development during the past four games was the emergence of the line of Jacob de la Rose, Lars Eller and Devante Smith-Pelly.  They were the hardest working trio during the road trip and on Saturday were rewarded for their solid play. Lars Eller scored his sixth game-winning goal of the season.  On the Canadiens, Eller is second only to Max Pacioretty in that category.  A remarkable 60 per cent of his goals this season have decided the game.

Smith-Pelly, who is becoming more comfortable with his linemates, had five shots on goal, three hits and his first point as a Canadien.  De la Rose had three shots and was looking hungry to add to his goal total on most shifts. He also had a strong game on the forecheck and creating turnovers.

The Canadiens fourth line had a much better night. Torrey Mitchell was 69 per cent at the faceoff dot while Brian Flynn had five shots on goal.

It was another good outing for Tom Gilbert and Jeff Petry who combined for 10 blocked shots and eight hits.

Just three points of a possible eight on the road trip, but the win certainly helps to reduce the sting as the Canadiens return to the east on Sunday.

Plus / Minus

▲     Carey Price, Lars Eller, Devante Smith-Pelly, Jacob de la Rose, Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry, Tom Gilbert, Bryan Flynn, Dale Weise, Torrey Mitchell

▼     Alex Galchenyuk, David Desharnais

1.  Carey Price  MTL
2.  Lars Eller  MTL
3.  Mike Smith  ARI

• “You can see a good level of consistency in their performance as the games go on. [Lars Eller, Jacob de la Rose, Devante Smith-Pelly] definitely played very well. They had good scoring chances. I liked their work along the boards. They paid a lot of attention to the details that we emphasize. The more they play together, the more you get the sense that chemistry between them is starting to form. They work hard. They play well in the defensive zone. They’re three big guys. They’re not easy to play against. We really like the makeup of that line. It’s good to see they were rewarded with a goal.”
• “Pricer was Pricer. Again tonight he was really good. He has a lot of confidence, and the way he played gave the team a lot of confidence, as well.”

Lars Eller

• “We haven’t won in a while, so it’s always good to get on the board. More importantly, though, we got out of here with two points and we finished this road trip strong.”
• “It was very important to finish this road trip with two points to make it somewhat acceptable. We didn’t start off on the right foot, but we got better as the road trip went on. Even though we haven’t won, we’ve been doing good things.”
• “(Carey) Price is always solid. He always gives us a chance to win. (Mike ) Smith was their best player, too. He kept them in the game until the last second. It wasn’t an easy game at all for us. We’re not happy with the trip, but at the same time we’ve got to look forward. We’re still in a very good spot, so there’s no reason to feel down on ourselves for too long here. We’ve got a big game coming up on Tuesday [against Tampa Bay]. We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and move forward.”

Devante Smith-Pelly

• “We’re finally starting to know what each other’s tendencies are. I think it’s showing out there. I think if takes four or five games to get used to guys, especially if you haven’t practiced. I think the last three games we’ve played pretty well together. It hasn’t exactly resulted in points, but it did against Arizona. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Dale Weise

• “[Carey Price] is an absolute treat to watch in net. Even being on his team, you get amazed by him every game. He’s so calm in there that when we get up late in games we feel so comfortable when he’s in the net. We know you’re going to have to make a pretty good play to beat him.”
• “To me, the MVP of the League is the most valuable player to his team and a lot of times a goaltender can be that guy. If a defenseman can win the Norris Trophy and still win the MVP, it should be no different for a goaltender. There is also a trophy for leading scorer.”

Carey Price

• “We played four pretty good teams on this trip. Even tonight, that team played pretty well over there and it was a hard-earned two points. “It’s good to face quality hockey teams and see how we stacked up. We didn’t play our best hockey but we finished up well.”

Coyotes goalie Mike Smith

• “It seemed like they were just throwing everything at the net. You just have to be sharp and ready for everything. After that, we got going and made a game of it.”

Coyotes coach Dave Tippett

• “We started slow and they started fast. [Mike Smith] held us in there and it’s been a couple games in a row that he’s played well, but we couldn’t buy some of the chances we had. Some of our best chances, we missed the net.“
• “We couldn’t find the one to get us back in the game. We didn’t execute as well as I thought we could have.”