The hot Winnipeg Jets’ misery against Montreal continued on Tuesday night as they couldn’t beat a stellar Carey Price in a 3-0 loss at the Bell Centre.
With the win, the Canadiens extend their winning streak to three straight games.
There was an upbeat tempo from both teams to start, as they traded scoring chances. The best chance of the first half of the period belonged to Evander Kane, who couldn’t beat Price on a breakaway. Montreal had a powerplay chance late in the period but Winnipeg came close to scoring on a horrid P.K. Subban giveaway, with Mark Scheifele hitting the post. At the other end, Alex Galchenyuk was unfortunate to have his stick break on
what would have been a tap into an empty net. Kane was called for his second penalty of the period with 1:08 to play. Montreal would not capitalize as the period ended. It was a 0-0 game after one period, with shots
favouring the Canadiens 10-8. The Habs have now gone the first five weeks
of the season without holding a lead after 20 minutes.
Montreal started the second period with 52 seconds of powerplay time but couldn’t muster a shot. They
managed to open the scoring shortly thereafter at the 2:21 mark of the period on a good hustle play from Jiri Sekac powering to the net and Lars Eller netting the easy tap in. Both teams had chances on the powerplay – Winnipeg failing to score on two opportunities while Montreal didn’t convert on their full two minutes. Play opened up at the end of the period but Montreal would take their 1-0 lead into the third period;
the shots were 21-17 in Montreal’s favour.
Winnipeg had more jump during the first half of the third period, pressing for an equalizer, however
Alex Galchenyuk would double Montreal’s lead with a little over 12 minutes to play. The game continued in the same way, with both teams being snuffed out by the respective goaltenders. Winnipeg pulled Ondrej Pavelec with a little over three minutes left to play
to try to get onto the board. Sekac took a penalty with 1:32 left in the game,
giving the Jets some late hope. Aside from another Winnipeg shot off the post and Kane hitting a field goal on an open net, it would be Tomas Plekanec
who put the game completely out of reach to give the Canadiens the 3-0 win.
HW 3 Stars of the Night
1st Star – Carey Price
He was the difference in this game as Winnipeg put some quality pucks on net.
He got some help from the posts but all-in-all, he stood tall for the full 60 minutes.
29 saves on 29 shots – 1.000 save percentage – 0.00 GAA
2nd Star – Alex Galchenyuk
He was unfortunate not to have scored two goals tonight, but Galchenyuk was involved throughout the game. The compete level was there as he played a strong 200 foot game.
1 goal – 0 assists – +1 rating – 3 shots – 0 hits – 0 takeaways – 16:55 TOI
3rd Star – Jiri Sekac
He would’ve been second star had he not taken that penalty at the end of the third period.
Sekac looked great on the first goal and is clearly an upgrade over the recently demoted Rene Bourque.
0 goals – 1 assist – +1 rating – 0 shots – 1 hit – 0 takeaways – 13:48 TOI
Honourable Mention
Lars Eller almost seemed giddy playing with Sekac. He looked re-energized and was Johnny On The Spot for the first goal of the game.
A solid game all around as it looks like he’s working through his early season slump.
1 goal – 0 assists – +1 rating – 2 shots – 1 hit – 0 takeaways – 16:31 TOI
Stat of the Night
23 blocked shots for the Canadiens in this one to Winnipeg’s 10. While Price
gets the deserved kudos for the shutout, the guys in front of him gave him a big
hand.