CANADIENS
Montreal

FLYERS
Philadelphia

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Lehkonen – Plekanec – Radulov
Byron – Desharnais – Shaw
Danault – Mitchell – Flynn[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Emelin – Weber
Markov – Petry
Beaulieu – Pateryn
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Montoya

Scratches

Daniel Carr, Mikhail Sergachev

Injured Reserve

Zach Redmond

Game Report

Carey Price made numerous outstanding saves tonight. Some saves were spectacular that Price made look routine. And others were the kind that made your jaw drop while gasping out a ‘Wow!’

Price can never be described as lackadaisical. He doesn’t give up bad goals. Price is all business once the puck drops.

But this season, he has company.  As is abundantly clear, Shea Weber is all business. Artturi Lehkonen never quits. And Alexander Radulov makes an impact on each shift.

This team has a strong work ethic. It isn’t focused on entertaining. No one is distracted by attending to their brand. There is much more of a workman-like approach and players pulling in the same direction. Marc Bergevin is to be credited for the culture change.

That’s not to say it’s time to plan the parade. The guy behind the bench has a lot of work to do to get the Canadiens firing on all cylinders. While the fourth line was underwater in terms of shots attempts, the third line was completely invisible.

As a result there was a bit of a push-pull feel to the game as one side took advantage and then the other. The Flyers were particularly strong in the first eight minutes of the third period. This is where we witnessed Price’s best work.

Then the Canadiens pushed back, taking control. This led to Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier taking a tripping penalty with 6:56 remaining in the third. Just four seconds later, Montreal had taken the lead for good. Shea Weber set up Alexander Radulov for a blast from the point. After winning the face-off, Brendan Gallagher went to the front of the net tipping Radulov’s shot past Flyer’s goalie Steve Mason.

For Brendan Gallagher it was his fourth goal in six games. Shea Weber now leads the team in assists (5), points (7) and is a remarkable plus-10. Montreal has fallen in love with Alexander Radulov, who had three points tonight and was chosen as the game’s first star.

Artturi Lehkonen picked up his first assist as a Canadien in this game to add to his two goals on the season. Lehkonen had five shots on goal second only to Max Pacioretty with six. Alexei Emelin recorded an assist on Radulov’s goal after being moved to play on the top defense pair with Weber. Michel Therrien said that the promotion was to recognize Emelin’s strong play from the start of the year.

Of the three stars in this game, Radulov, Weber and Price, none of them played a regular role with the Canadiens last season. This has to bode well for the Habs going forward. And will give fans disappointed with last year’s result reason to fall in love with this team again.

~~~

▲     Carey Price, Alexander Radulov, Shea Weber, Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen, Alexei Emelin

▼     Nathan Beaulieu, Greg Pateryn, Brian Flynn, Philip Danault

1. Alexander Radulov MTL
2. Shea Weber  MTL
3. Carey Price  MTL

• “[Shea Weber and Alexei Emelin] were really good. I thought [Emelin] has been very good from the beginning of the year.”

Alexander Radulov

• “I don’t know how to say it, I get the tickles — yeah, goosebumps or whatever (when he heard fans chanting his name.) It’s a good feeling obviously and it’s nice to get that from the fans. It’s all about the fans.”
• “I’ve enjoyed every day since I’ve arrived in Montreal. The people here are nice and they love hockey. I’ve never seen people follow hockey so closely. It’s great, because I love hockey too.”
• “You have to give a big hand to Carey (Price.) He kept us close especially in the 3rd (period), [the Flyers] came out hard.”

Carey Price

• “[Alexander Radulov] brings a lot of enthusiasm. Every day, he comes in and just enjoys playing the game — he’s an awesome teammate to have. He’s awesome to hang out with. He just enjoys being here. He brings a lot of positive vibes to the locker room.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com