Carey Price made 17 saves in his second consecutive shutout and the Montreal Canadiens snapped the visiting New York Rangers' seven-game winning streak with a 4-0 victory Saturday.
Brian Gionta tallied twice and Tomas Plekanec and Erik Cole each recorded a power-play goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who jumped back over .500 (9-8-3) with their fourth win in the last six games.
After averaging 3.9 goals during the winning streak, New York had trouble generating any scoring chances at all against Montreal.
The few shots that did manage to get through could not get past Price, who now has 14 career shutouts.
The Canadiens found themselves on the power play six times, cashing in the first opportunity in the opening period when Cole wristed his sixth goal past Martin Biron.
Gionta’s two goals both came at even strength. The right wing made it 2-0 in the second when he flipped the puck at the goal from far out on the end line. Somehow it snuck past an unscreened Biron.
His second tally was a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that made it 4-0 in the third.
NY Rangers | Montreal | |
N/A | Points | Brian Gionta 2 |
N/A | Goals | Brian Gionta 2 |
N/A | Assists | Scott Gomez 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Erik Cole 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Martin Biron .871 | Save Percentage | Carey Price 1.000 |
Martin Biron 27 | Saves | Carey Price 17 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
NY Rangers | 17 | 0 | 0-3 | 4-6 | 21 | 25 |
Montreal | 31 | 4 | 2-6 | 3-3 | 15 | 27 |