In Columbus Friday night, the visiting Montreal Canadiens got two goals apiece from Tomas Tatar and Joel Armia as they defeated the Blue Jackets, 4-1.
It was the fourth straight win for the Habs.
“For everybody, this is a tough building to play in,” Tatar said. “They have a great team on the other side. I think we can play against anybody in the League when we play great hockey.”
Montreal improved to 27-17-5.
Carey Price made 34 saves in the win.
“I liked the way our team handled the third period,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. “We didn’t stop playing but we didn’t give them much. We closed the play quickly. We got the pucks in deep. We were doing the right things.
“Big win in this building against a team that’s been extremely hot and doing well as of late.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored early in the third period to end any shut out bid Price had.
“We knew they were a quick team, but I don’t think we moved the puck fast enough,” Columbus center Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “I don’t think we got open fast enough.
“We’ve played good teams before. That’s how you beat them. You’re moving. You find the open space and move the puck fast. I don’t think we did that tonight.”
The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Jackets.
“We certainly didn’t finish,” Columbus head coach John Tortorella said. “We had some chances, four posts. I still don’t think we were totally clean with our passing. We played well enough to at least get a point out of that, but we don’t.”
[WATCH:Â All Canadiens vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves i the loss.
“We seemed like we messed up tonight. We hit a few posts and got close a few times. I guess it was one of those nights,” Bjorkstrand said after the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.