Price, Habs hold off late push from Flames
Depth forwards deliver another win for Montreal
CALGARY — Byron Froese went so long without an NHL goal that he wasn’t sure how to celebrate.
Froese scored his first goal in 22 months and also added an assist as the Montreal Canadiens hung on for a 3-2 win on Friday night against the Calgary Flames.
“It feels really good,” said the 26-year-old, whose last goal came as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 20, 2016. “From the celebration, you could see, I couldn’t think about anything else but to raise my hands.”
Froese opened the scoring 10:45 into the first period when he deflected Jordie Benn’s point shot past Mike Smith.
He then assisted on a goal by Nicolas Deslauriers at 8:44 of the second as the visitors went ahead 2-0. Froese curled out of the corner and fired a shot on goal that Smith stopped, but Deslauriers batted in the rebound out of mid-air for his third goal in two games.
The line of Froese, Daniel Carr and Deslauriers make up three of Montreal’s top-four scorers for the month of December with 23 combined points.
“You can’t call them a fourth line anymore because they’re not playing like one,” said Montreal coach Claude Julien. “They’ve been doing that for a while. They just play the right way. They’re extremely solid and strong along the walls in both ends.”
Froese has seven points (one goal, six assists) in eight December games. This, after he had just two goals and five points through his first 72 career NHL games.
“Once we had that little bit of success that first game with Carr and (Deslauriers), you grip the stick a little bit looser and feel more confident and more comfortable,” Froese said.
Brendan Gallagher, ending a six-game pointless streak, also scored for Montreal (16-15-4). The Canadiens play in Edmonton tonight.
Micheal Ferland and Matthew Tkachuk scored in the third period for Calgary (18-153). The Flames are the only NHL team not in action today and don’t play again until Dec. 28 in San Jose.
“There’s no system for outworked,” vented Flames coach Glen Gulutzan. “We’ve put together a good string of games, but the one that irks you the most is the ones when you get out-battled and that’s tonight and I’m not happy.”
Down 3-0 and having turned in a listless effort to that point, Calgary finally got on the scoreboard at 9:42 of the third when Ferland knocked Michael Frolik’s rebound past Carey Price.
Calgary drew to within one at 18:07 with a power-play goal from Tkachuk. It came after the Flames had also pulled their goaltender for a 6-on-4. But they would get no closer despite a furious push in the final minute.
“They outworked us all night,” said Flames forward Sam Bennett. “They came in with a road mindset, a battle mindset and we didn’t match it.”
Calgary was outshot 35-23 on the night, the first time in 12 games they’ve been outshot.
It was the 12th start in a row for Price since returning from a lower-body injury.