Site icon Habs Hockey Report

RECAP | Ducks – Canadiens: Kotkaniemi Sets Mark, Habs Down Ducks

Ducks vs Canadiens Game Recap: Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game, Three-Stars

FINAL | Game 54, Home Game 29 | Tuesday February 5, 2019
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC

CANADIENS

Montreal

4-1

DUCKS

Anaheim

 

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines  

Jonathan Drouin  – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Charles Hudon – Max Domi – Matthew Peca

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Joel Armia 

Kenny Agostino – Michael Chaput – Nicolas Deslauriers

Defense pairings

Victor Mete – Shea Weber

Mike Reilly – Jeff Petry

Brett Kulak – Jordie Benn

Goaltenders

Carey Price – Antti Niemi

Scratches

Karl Alzner, Tomas Tatar (flu), Paul Byron (upper body)

Injuries

Andrew Shaw (neck)

Game Report

Wearing their retro Mighty Ducks jerseys, the visitors from Anaheim were not so mighty. Now on a five-game slide, the Ducks have been outscored 27-6 in that timeframe.

The Canadiens deserve credit for grabbing their opponent by the throat early on and not allowing them up for air. Anaheim looked demoralized heading to the first intermission with the Habs up 3-0.

Despite a brief surge by the Ducks in the second, the Canadiens cruised to a convincing win. When Anaheim tried to spark a comeback, Carey Price was there to snuff it out.

After a weekend when both players were universally criticized for their lack of effort, Brendan Gallagher and Jonathan Drouin put on a show combining for six points and two of the three stars.

But the Canadiens best line continues to be the three Finns, who dominate possession, are relentless forecheckers and are hard to play against. Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored for the third straight game, something never done before by an 18-year-old Canadien. Joel Armia picked up an assist and the game’s third star.

The test now gets tougher for Montreal as they host top tier teams from the East and West. The Jets arrive for a contest at the Bell Centre on Thursday while the Habs face the Maple Leafs in a traditional Saturday night matchup.

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joel Armia, Artturi Lehkonen, Brendan Gallagher, Phillip Danault, Jonathan Drouin, Jeff Petry, Shea Weber

▼  Charles Hudon, Brett Kulak, Max Domi, Nicolas Deslauriers, Michael Chaput, Kenny Agostino, Matthew Peca, Jordie Benn

The Numbers

 Game Statistics 
CANADIENS   DUCKS
32 Shots 25
41 Face-off % 59
0-for-3 Power Play 0-for-1
2 Penalty Minutes 6
25 Hits 28
65 Corsi For 48
 Scoring Summary
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 Canadiens (30-18-6) 3 0 1 4
 Ducks (21-24-9) 0 1 0 1
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Gallagher (20), Kotkaniemi (9), Gallagher (21), Danault (10)
  • ANA: Getzlaf (11)
  • MTL: Price (W) 22-13-4
  • ANA: Johnson (L) 2-10-0

Stars of the Game

 NHL Official Three Stars
  1. Brendan Gallagher  MTL
  2. Jonathan Drouin  MTL
  3. Joel Armia  MTL

Watch

 Video Highlights 

What Did They Say?

 Post-game Quotes
Claude Julien  
  • “Right now, we’re just grinding through the season, which is what we want to do. We want to stay in the battle and stay in the present. You never want to get too high, you never want to get too low. That’s what we’re doing right now. Nobody is overly excited, but we like the direction we’re going in. We’re allowed to be happy with what we’ve accomplished so far, as long as we’re not satisfied.”
Brendan Gallagher
  • “We’re not where we want to be at, obviously there’s some work to be done. But we put ourselves in a decent position here where we have a chance to compete for a playoff spot, and that’s really the goal. It’s exciting.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

Social Media

 Best of Twitter

Follow @AllHabs on Twitter

Be sure to follow @AllHabs on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube

Exit mobile version