CANADIENS
Montreal

ISLANDERS
New York

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

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

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

Goaltenders:

Price
Condon

Scratches: Jarred Tinordi, Bud Holloway, Torrey Mitchell (lower-body), Devante Smith-Pelly (lower-body)
Injured reserve:  Alexei Emelin (lower-body)
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Game Report

While the Canadiens and their fans celebrated a hard fought win, much of the post-game focus was on Brendan Gallagher. With good reason.  Gallagher blocked a shot from the potent stick of Johnny Boychuk with about eight minutes left in the second period. In obvious pain he went to the dressing room and did not return.

The Montreal Canadiens announced that Brendan Gallagher suffered two broken fingers on his left hand. He will have surgery on Monday and will be out indefinitely.

With Gallagher out for an extended time, Michel Therrien was asked about how Gallagher will be replaced? Therrien pointed to the injury to Carey Price and how Mike Condon stepped in to carry the load.  The question will be discussed within the Canadiens organization and throughout the fanbase over the next few days.

With Torrey Mitchell and Devante Smith-Pelly out before the game began it was Sven Andrighetto getting his first NHL action of the season. Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller and Andrighetto were the Canadiens best line dominating possession all game long. Eller led the team in Corsi at 16.

Therrien said it was their best game of the season.

To date, Eller and Galchenyuk have done an excellent job forechecking and creating opportunities but have mostly been saddled with a rotating group of fourth line players who have not complemented their talent. Andrighetto has the acceleration and offensive prowess to be an asset for the time being.

But the Canadiens most effective weapon in this game was their special teams. They did not score an even strength goal. The power-play was lethal going 3-for-5 and Tomas Fleischmann added a shorthanded goal.

Carey Price was simply spectacular: a pad save that only he can make; stretching across to rob Kyle Okposo; a glove save on a shot  deflected by Jonathan Tavares; a toe save then swatting away the rebound in the nick of time.

The Islanders were quick and very physical generating plenty of high-quality scoring chances. Both David Desharnais and Jeff Petry had trouble handling the Isles size and skill around the net on the first New York goal.

It was Greg Pateryn’s best game of the season by far looking comfortable and poised. Pateryn led the team with four shots and added three shots on goal in 13:16.

The Canadiens have the day off on Monday. Their next game is on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers.

▲     Carey Price, Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller, Sven Andrighetto, Greg Pateryn, Alex Semin, Tom Gilbert

▼

1. Alex Galchenyuk   MTL
2. Tomas Fleischmann   MTL
3. Kyle Okposo  NYI

• “All teams in the NHL have to deal with injuries. We are not different from the rest. Some guys are about to return. It’s possible that Devante Smith-Pelly will be available for Wednesday’s game, and Alexei Emelin is also progressing well.“

Tomas Fleischmann

• “The special teams were extra special tonight. Goals on the power play and one on the penalty kill too.”

Carey Price

• “Obviously [Brendan Gallagher] is a big part of our team but we have to be resilient, and we have to carry on even if we’re going to be missing him for a while. We have a lot of depth on our team. He’s a leader on our team, we’re going to miss him, however long that’s going to be.”
• “[Alex Galchenyuk] has been working hard. He’s been doing all the right things. He’s been finishing in practice and sometimes you get in those types of funks, and he’s got all the talent, you just knew it was going to pop out.”

Max Pacioretty

• “The way [Brendan Gallagher] got hurt is just typical of his character and the way he plays the game. He took a bomb off Boychuk’s stick, which is one of the hardest shots in the league.  And he stayed out there, which says a lot about his character. Obviously we don’t want him to miss any time because he is such a valuable piece of this team.”

Islanders coach Jack Capuano

• “I thought we played a pretty good game 5-on-5. We came in here and gave up 26 shots with all the power plays they had. But they capitalized on their power play when they needed to and we didn’t.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com