Oilers pepper Niemi with 43 shots en route to 6-2 win
OILERS 6, CANADIENS 2
Antti Niemi didn’t get EDMONTON a win for the Canadiens Tuesday night, but he kept them in the game for two periods. Starting for the second straight game in place of the struggling Carey Price, Niemi stopped 37 of the 43 shots he faced, but it wasn’t enough as the Canadiens lost 6-2 to the Edmonton Oilers. Niemi stopped 17 of 18 shots in the second period alone to keep the score 3-2. The Canadiens saw their record drop to 9-6-3, while Niemi is now 4-2-0. Matt Benning, Leon Draisaitl, Drake Caggiula, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kris Russell and Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers and Caggiula’s is the only one Niemi was really bad on — but the goalie wasn’t great on a couple of other ones. There’s a reason why Niemi is a backup. The first goal by Benning was a fluke after the defenceman’s point blast bounced off the back boards and then hit Niemi in the back before going in the net. Draisaitl scored on a perfect setup from Connor McDavid after the superstar blew past defenceman David Schlemko before setting up his linemate all alone in front of Niemi. Nugent-Hopkins scored from the slot on a third-period shot Niemi probably wants back and then Russell and Nurse delivered the final blows. Max Domi scored his team-leading 10th goal for the Canadiens, extending his point streak to seven games, while Andrew Shaw scored his fourth goal in three games. Domi now has one more goal than he scored all of last season with the Arizona Coyotes. “He’s kind of been exactly what I thought he was,” teammate Brendan Gallagher said about Domi after Tuesday’s morning skate. “I played with him at worlds (when Team Canada won gold in 2016) and this is the player I saw. I’m not sure what happened in Arizona. Obviously, we only play them twice a year so I didn’t get to see him much. But everything I knew about him, I knew he was going to be a very good player for us and that’s exactly what he’s been. Obviously, he’s having some success. I think he’s really enjoying playing in Montreal. But everything else, I think he’s just being himself.” Domi scored on a perfect snapshot from the faceoff dot to goalie Mikko Koskinen’s right over his glove hand and into the top corner after taking a pass from Shaw and streaking down the left wing. Shaw’s goal came on a nice setup from behind the net by Jonathan Drouin. Shaw has been on fire since joining Drouin and Domi on a line. “I think (Domi) and Dru have built pretty good chemistry,” coach Claude Julien said after the morning skate. “Now Shawsy’s stepped in there and filled in a role that that line needed.” The Canadiens lost both games against the Oilers last season, losing 6-2 at the Bell Centre and 4-1 at Rogers Place. The two teams will meet again on Feb. 3 in Montreal. The Canadiens will be hoping Price has found his game by that point.