CANADIENS
Montreal

ISLANDERS
New York

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Eller – Galchenyuk – Byron
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Semin – Flynn – Smith-Pelly[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Subban
Beaulieu – Petry
Gilbert – Pateryn[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Price
Condon

Scratches: Jarred Tinordi, Torrey Mitchell (lower-body)
Injured reserve:  Alexei Emelin (lower-body)
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Game Report

There are certain questions which don’t have an answer: 1. Why anyone thought that Jaroslav Halak would be a better goaltender than Carey Price? 2. How P.J. Stock still has a job on TV? and  3. What exactly constitutes goaltender interference?

With respect to the last question, we have witnessed countless waived off goals by the Canadiens when Brendan Gallagher parks himself too close to the net, brushes the goaltender or gets pushed into the crease by a defender. On Friday night though, referees Dean Morton and Brian Pochmura had their own very different interpretation of goaltender interference.

After Carey Price made a save high on his chest, Islanders forward Brock Nelson crosschecked the Habs goaltender in the shoulder. Then as the puck fell, Nelson whacked Price moving him back then finally knocked the puck into the net. After review it was determined that it was a good goal.

The only thing consistent about NHL officiating is its inconsistency.

It was the visit visit by the Canadiens to Barclays Center. The arena is not ideal for hockey with quirky dimensions, black backgrounds perfect for obscuring the clear view of the puck and the Skoda-like vehicle in the corner of the stands.

It was the first game back for Carey Price who hadn’t played since October 29th in Edmonton. Price looked very good although probably not at 100 per cent. With backup Mike Condon starting to fade it appeared that Price was rushed back a little sooner than if Condon had kept up his strong play.

Price may have been doing a little extra stretching during breaks and his recoveries looked somewhat less fluid. But some huge saves early in the game halted the trend of Montreal giving up the first goal of the game.

At the other end of the ice, Jaroslav Halak was simply awful. Halak gave up three goals on 11 shots including two softies before being yanked at the end of the first period. Coming into the game, Halak had lost three out of his last four starts.

Alex Semin started on the fourth line and had his best game as a Canadien. Semin made a great pass to set up the first Montreal goal. He and Tomas Fleischmann led the Habs with four shots on goal.

With Paul Byron not being the answer for the second line and Michel Therrien being reluctant to reward Semin for his good play, Brendan Gallagher was moved to the second line. This left an opening on the right side of Tomas Plekanec for Devante Smith-Pelly. The changes were adequate but didn’t produce anything significant.

Following the game forward Sven Anrighetto was called up from the St. John’s IceCaps. Andrighetto had a two-goal game for the IceCaps on Friday including the overtime winner.

The Canadiens returned to Montreal after the game and will host the Islanders on Sunday at the Bell Centre.

▲     Carey Price, Jeff Petry, Nathan Beaulieu, Alex Semin, Greg Pateryn, Devante Smith-Pelly

▼     Brendan Gallagher, P.K. Subban, Andrei Markov, David Desharnais

1. Jeff Petry   MTL
2. Brock Nelson   NYI
3. Nathan Beaulieu  MTL

• “Carey was Carey Price. Even though he didn’t play for the last few weeks, the way he performed, you couldn’t tell. He was a true leader for us again tonight.”
• “To be quite honest, [Petry and Beaulieu] was our best pairing tonight. They skated well, they moved the puck, they were responsible. They played really well both sides of the ice, offensively and defensively. I really appreciate the way those two played together.”

Jeff Petry

• “[Price] looked like he was right on top his game. He played well and made some big saves for us. Having a full camp and starting the season off with the team has helped me get to know everybody, to get to know the system.”

Islanders captain John Tavares

• “Any time you give up a few couple-goal leads, especially to a team like Montreal with a good goaltender, [it’s tough]. We can’t have a start like that.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com