Price helps Canadiens shut out Islanders
Carey Price stopped 27 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Islanders 4-0 Thursday night in Montreal to remain in the hunt for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Joel Armia, Shea Weber, Jonathan Drouin and Jordan Weal also scored for the Canadiens, who won their second straight after dropping two in a row.
Thomas Greiss gave up four goals on 22 shots for the Islanders before being pulled in the second period. Robin Lehner made 12 saves in relief.
The Islanders have the league’s best defense, but they’ve given up nine goals in their last two games after dropping a 5-0 decision to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
After a back-andforth first period, Armia gave Montreal the lead with seven seconds left in the frame. With the Canadiens on the power play, Armia beat Greiss between the pads from the slot after Weber stopped Cal Clutterbuck from clearing the puck.
The Canadiens added to their lead early in the second period.
Weber scored his 13th goal of the season with a blistering slap shot to make it 2-0, seconds after Artturi Lehkonen hit the post on a wraparound.
Jordan Eberle, who played despite dealing with an upper-body injury this week, had a chance to get the Islanders back in the game. But Price stuck out his pad and made a nice toe save to keep New York off the board.
Montreal capitalized on the next shift, when Drouin completed a tic-tac-toe pass play from Armia and Jesperi Kotkaniemi at the sixminute mark.
Weal added a fourth for Montreal at 8:19, tipping a shot by Jordie Benn past Greiss, who was then replaced by Lehner.
LIGHTNING 6, HURRICANES 3: Ryan Callahan scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, and Tampa Bay picked up its seventh straight win with a victory over Carolina. Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists and Tyler Johnson, Anthony Cirelli, Brayden Point and Ryan Mcdonagh all scored for the Lightning, who scored four unanswered goals in the third period to erase a 3-2 deficit.
PENGUINS 2, PREDATORS 1, SO: Sidney Crosby’s goal in the shootout gave Pittsburgh a win over Nashville and ended the Penguins’ three-game losing streak. Bryan Rust scored in regulation for the Penguins, who moved into a second-place tie with the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.
FLYERS 3, BLACKHAWKS 1: Carter Hart made 40 saves and James van Reimsdyk snapped a tie in the third period, helping Philadelphia beat Chicago.
BRUINS 5, DEVILS 1:
Patrice Bergeron scored twice and reached the 30-goal mark for the fifth time and Boston beat New Jersey to open a six-point lead over Toronto in the race for second place in the Atlantic Division.
AVALANCHE 3, STARS 1:
Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Carl Soderberg scored to move Colorado into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
PANTHERS 4, COYOTES 2:
Aleksander Barkov scored two goals and Jonathan Huberdeau had three assists as Florida won for the first time in three games.
BLUES 5, RED WINGS 2:
Ivan Barbashev recorded his first career NHL hat trick to lead St. Louis past Detroit.