Stellar Price and potent offence lead Canadiens

Good start on road has team excited about return home

PITTSBURGH Penguins coach Mike Sullivan had a simple explanation for his team’s 5-1 loss to the Canadiens on Saturday night

“They were outworked, and you never want to see that happen,” he said.

“We talked about it all camp, we wanted to play with pace,” said speedster Paul Byron, who led the Montreal offence with a pair of goals and an assist. “We want to move up quickly and with the talent we have and the speed, we can play that fast game. There are still things we have to clean up, but to start on the road like that is great.

“Now we have to rest up and get ready for the home games coming up.”

The win gave the Canadiens three of a possible four points on the road after losing in overtime to Toronto in the season opener Wednesday.

While the five goals were impressive — the Canadiens ranked 29th in offence last season — it may have overshadowed a stellar defensive effort. Goalie Carey Price was solid, but he had a lot of help.

When Price wins a game, he’s quick to spread the credit by noting the guys in front of him blocked a lot of shots, even when it may not be true. It was true Saturday night. Price made 21 saves and his teammates blocked 22 shots.

“The defence did a great job getting in the lanes,” Byron said. “Sidney Crosby had a shot which Mike Reilly blocked to save a goal. It was an incredible save by him but, if they score there, it might have been a different.”

“That’s commitment,” said coach Claude Julien. “We’re closing quickly and pucks are hitting us.”

Another key to win was the short-handed goal that Joel Armia scored on a feed from Byron late in the second period. That made it 4-0 and effectively ended the Penguins’ hope of a comeback.

“If they score there, it’s 3-1 and who knows what might have happened,” Byron said.

Brendan Gallagher said the Canadiens didn’t play their best in the second period despite outscoring the Penguins 2-1 for a 4-1 lead.

“We talked about it after the second period and we came out strong in the third,” Gallagher said.

So strong that the Canadiens outshot the Penguins 14-3 in the third period for a 29-22 edge in the game.

“Our second period was probably the average period for our team, but we came out and were assertive in the third,” Julien said. “It was a good effort from our team on this road trip. We’re happy with it, but it’s two games out of 82.

“It was important that we didn’t play on our heels (in the third period),” Julien added. “They’re a potent hockey team. We respected their offence and we didn’t want to sit on the lead. It was important that we took the game to them.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s extra work on faceoffs is beginning to pay dividends. He won six of nine draws on a night when Montreal won only 40 per cent of its faceoffs. The rookie had three shots on goal, blocked a shot, had a take-away and also took his first two NHL penalties. He was plus-2 for the night.

Julien tried to give him some help by protecting him from facing off against Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

“Tonight, they tried to match Malkin against him, the biggest and most skilled centre in the league, so I certainly didn’t want to expose him to that,” Julien said.

“He was good on draws, he made something happen on that one goal (by Charles Hudon) and almost scored one himself. He’s still a player who brings something every night.”