On Friday, Carey Price made 22 saves and shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-0, to secure the qualifying win for the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.
“We were definitely all motivated going into this series,” Canadiens goalie Carey Price said after making 22 saves. “Nobody was giving us a prayer to beat them. That definitely played a factor into it. I thought we all took it with a grain of salt. Went out there and just tried to prove everybody wrong.”
Artturi Lehkonen with 4:11 left in the third period.
“That was a good pass from Paul behind the net,” Lehkonen said. “I just had to tap it in towards the net, and luckily it found the net. … Everybody was kind of counting us off. So of course, it feels good to win this series. But it was one series, and now we have to enjoy this for a moment and then move on.”
Montreal won the series, 3-1.
“I thought guys prepared themselves well,” the Penguins’ Kris Letang said. “But when the puck dropped, we faced a well-balanced team with a great goaltender that played better than us. And I think that’s what happened.”
Shea Weber added an empty goal to secure the win.
“I thought it was more about the guys,” Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said. “They’re starting to understand how consistency is important. I think we’ve played four good games. … This was our fourth game in seven nights, and I thought we did an excellent job of defending. We didn’t give them much.
“We knew their backs were against the wall. They were going to be desperate. But I think defensively, we did a great job.”
[WATCH: All Penguins vs. Canadiens highlights]
Tristan Jarry made 20 saves in the loss.
“I thought the first two games, we played extremely well,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought the first game might have been our best. So we didn’t get the power play going in Game 1, but every other aspect of our game was pretty good. We needed our best tonight and we didn’t get it.”
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