Price, Canadiens end Flames’ 5-game winning streak, 2-0
MONTREAL (AP) — Carey Price made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and the Montreal Canadiens snapped the Calgary Flames‘ five-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory Monday night.
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.
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.
Weal was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Montreal’s 2-1 overtime victory in Ottawa on Saturday, a win that snapped their lengthy skid.
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.
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.
