MONTREAL (AP) Carey Price stopped everything Calgary threw his way Monday night – which wasn’t much, as far as Flames interim coach Geoff Ward was concerned.
Price made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and the Montreal Canadiens snapped the Flames’ five-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory.
”Not enough emotional attachment to this game,” Ward said. ”We got outbattled, outraced, outcompeted and outworked right from the opening face off. It took us a long time to start clawing our way back into the hockey game.”
Jordan Weal and rookie Ryan Poehling scored for the Canadiens, who have won two straight since losing eight in a row.
Price’s shutout was the 46th of his career, tying Ken Dryden for third on the franchise’s career list.
”Obviously a momentum builder,” Price said. ”We just carried on from last game. Right until the end, guys were diving in front of pucks. That’s what winning hockey is all about.”
David Rittich stopped 35 shots for the Flames, who have been shut out six times.
The Canadiens came out firing, and Rittich responded with big saves in the opening minutes. Shots were 13-2 when Montreal finally put one past the Flames goaltender at 13:30. Following a wraparound attempt from Jeff Petry, Weal spun and placed a no-look shot under Rittich’s pad.
”Coaching staff brought it to our attention that we need to get to the net a little more,” said Weal, who was a healthy scratch last game. ”The puck popped out to me there. I was just trying to keep putting pucks on net because we were doing that earlier in the game, and it found a way in.”
Price was not very busy through two periods, but he made important stops when called upon.
He denied Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane on 2-on-1 rushes in the second. Price also made a pad save on Tobias Rieder’s backhand midway through the period before denying Johnny Gaudreau with the glove a few minutes later.
Poehling gave Montreal a two-goal cushion with his first point in 20 games. After a Canadiens faceoff win in the offensive zone, the 21-year-old rookie drove to the net and waited for Rittich to go down before shooting over his pad at 9:45 of the third.
Calgary pulled Rittich for an extra skater with nearly four minutes to play but they could not solve Price, who improved to 8-1-1 in his last 10 games against the Flames.
”We got better as the game went on but they took it to us all night,” Gaudreau said. ”We just have to be better. We got a little fancy at times, turned the puck over sometimes at the blue line. It cost us.”
The Canadiens have beaten Calgary in five straight contests.
NOTES: Montreal F Brendan Gallagher missed his second straight game with headaches following a concussion. D Ben Chiarot was back after missing two games with a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Flames: Play at Toronto on Thursday night.
Canadiens: Host Chicago on Wednesday night.
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