Canadiens Lineup

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher

Ilya Kovalchuk – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia

Artturi Lehkonen – Max Domi – Jordan Weal

Nick Cousins – Nate Thompson – Dale Weise

Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Marco Scandella – Victor Mete

Carey Price – Charlie Lindgren

Ryan Poehling

Paul Byron, Jonathan Drouin

Game Report

Apparently matinee games are not a kind entry point for a team who is coming off a 10-day break. The offensive powerhouse that is the Florida Panthers, the team riding a six-game winning streak, the club that had scored at least four goals in each of those wins, did not show up at the Bell Centre this afternoon.

That said, the Canadiens not only got a jump on the visitors, who were clearly out of sorts, they played a strong first 40 minutes taking a 3-0 lead to the second intermission. In the third, Montreal handed the proceedings over to Carey Price, who turned aside 17 shots in the final frame alone.

Price went on to earn his third shutout of the season, 47th of his illustrious career. That moves Price ahead of Ken Dryden for third place on the Canadiens all-time shutout list. George Hainsworth and Jacques Plante are the only Habs goaltenders ahead of him.

Jeff Petry had the first four-point game of his career which may attract a little extra attention from GMs around the league leading up to the trade deadline. Artturi Lehkonen was a buzzsaw all game long forechecking hard, creating scoring chances and scoring the 12th goal of his strong season.

The Canadiens are back in action tomorrow afternoon the Bell Centre as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Plus / Minus

▲  Carey Price, Jeff Petry, Artturi Lehkonen, Nick Suzuki, Joel Armia, Tomas Tatar, Brendan Gallagher

▼  Nick Cousins, Victor Mete, Nate Thompson, Marco Scandella, Dale Weise