The Montreal Canadiens ended a four-game losing skid with a win over the St. Louis Blues.
By Rick Stephens, Rocket Sports, Montreal Canadiens Blogger
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GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 5 vs St. Louis Blues 2 | FINAL
Canadiens record: 3-4-1 | 7 points (26th in NHL)
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
13 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 77 Kirby Dach
40 Joel Armia - 15 Alex Newhook - 91 Oliver Kapanen
17 Josh Anderson - 71 Jake Evans - 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 28 Christian Dvorak - 51 Emil Heineman
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 24 Logan Mailloux
48 Lane Hutson - 58 David Savard
72 Arber Xhekaj - 47 Jayden Struble
Goaltenders
Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches:
Injuries: Carey Price, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Patrik Laine, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky, Justin Barron
Game Report
After Saturday's game day skate, Habs head coach Marty St. Louis said, "We had three days to do our homework, to study. Now, it's time for the test."
The Montreal Canadiens haven't yet hit the 10-game mark in the 2024-25 campaign but there was a lot riding on this early season match. After riding a four-game losing streak including a humiliating loss against the Rangers on Tuesday, the Habs put in a workman-like effort to stem the bleeding.
Montreal's success on special teams was a difference-maker on Saturday night. The game winner was scored on the power play by Alex Newhook, his second goal of the season. The Canadiens have now scored a power play goal in seven of their eight games played.
The Montreal penalty kill was a perfect three-for-three bringing their success rate to 89.3 per cent, ranked third in the NHL. Eleven seconds after killing off a Michael Pezzetta penalty, penalty killers Jake Evans and Joel Armia teamed up to score the game's first goal.
Evans, Armia and Kirby Dach each recorded a goal and an assist.
The Blues had a slow start, going through the first period without a high danger chance allowing Montembeault to get his skates under him. Montembeault had struggled in his three previous starts but was solid in a head-to-head matchup with Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington.
"I'm not saying we found the solution tonight, but we took a big step forward, said Jake Evans. "We know that if we continue like this, we will win a lot of games."
Quick hits
⦁ Lane Hutson was the most used player on the Habs with an ice time of 23:49. That included 2:13 on the penalty kill, a part of the game that Hutson did not play in college. He added three blocked shots.
⦁ Michael Pezzetta played just 8:51 and he served two minor penalties.
⦁ Josh Anderson left the game in the third period after blocking a shot off the stick of Justin Faulk. After the game, the Canadiens recalled forward Lucas Condotta from the Laval Rocket.
Up Next
It's back-to-back games as the Canadiens travel to Philadelphia for a Sunday night match with the Flyers.
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