The three-game sweep starts in Uniondale where the Islanders have become seemingly mortal over the last few weeks. They have lost three straight and only been able to muster one goal in each loss. As a result they have fallen three points back of the New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division race.
Carey Price led Habs to 3-1 win over Islanders Saturday – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Carey Price made 35 saves for the Montreal Canadiens who beat the Isles Saturday, 3-1.
“It’s good to get off on this road trip on the right foot,” said Price, who matched a career-best with his 38th win of the season. “Moving forward, we want to build on that and keep bringing a solid effort like that. I think if we stick to our guns and play like that type of hockey, we’ll be successful.”
Tomas Plekanec, Max Pacioretty and Lars Eller scored for the Habs.
“Carey Price was Carey Price,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. “He’s a dominant player. He’s a special player. Again tonight, he was a true leader for us.”
As has been pointed in PHN Power Ranking Poll, Price is THE Habs.
“We dictated the play in the third period, and that’s what you ask your guys to do,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “We tweaked the lines, we didn’t give them much. Obviously, [the Canadiens have] an MVP goalie there. I thought he played well. He made three or four saves that were outstanding. They could have changed the game around.”
In St Louis, it was a game of missed opportunities and giveaways by the Blues as they lost to the Minnesota Wild, 3-1.
The Wild scored two goals 17 seconds apart to break a 1-1 tie and grab two precious points.
Devan Dubnyk made 41 saves on the night including a spectacular glove save in the second.
“I tried not to think about it before but this was kind of my unicorn here,” Dubnyk said. “I got my first start against these guys in Edmonton and it was real ugly. For some reason, it didn’t seem to matter how good I felt in a game against these guys, it always seemed to end up 4-1 or 5-1 by the end of the game. It’s nice to get out there with a different team and get one tonight so I can stop thinking about it.”
Dubnyk faced 21 shots in the second period alone in the back end of back-to-back games.
“Part of the decision was how he played in Carolina,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “Typically you don’t go with your goalies in back-to-back games, but the importance of the game and the fact that we haven’t played in a couple days before and we don’t play for a couple days after I felt it was a safe option.
“What can you say that second period? It seemed like we couldn’t get out of our end. What I like about it is just that the guys there’s a lot of confidence with him in the net where we didn’t start running around, we didn’t start panicking. I thought we kept a lot to the outside and then obviously gave ourselves a chance to come in tied after two. I really like the way we played in the third period.”
Thomas Vanek, Nino Niederreiter and Kyle Brodziak scored for the Wild.
Brodziak capitalized on a turnover by Vladimir Tarasenko to seal the win.
The sweep ends in Vancouver where the Canucks were the latest team to toy with the hapless Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-1 win.
The lone goal came from Phil Kessel who needed open and empty ice to score on a penalty shot. With nearly 19 minutes of ice time and penalty shot score Kessel was still a -2 on the night. Leaf fans, including many here, must wonder how Kessel remains on the roster or on the ice for Toronto.
For Vancouver, Derek Dorsett had a goal and three points in the win.
“Any time you contribute offensively it’s a big boost,” Dorsett said of his sixth goal. “I understand my role on this team is to create energy and keep the opposing team honest.”
Eddie Lack made 28 saves for the Canucks in the win and remains steady in relief of Ryan Miller.
Chris Higgins, Jannik Hansen and Shawn Matthias also scored for Vancouver.
“Our effort, our compete, everything was a lot better than last night,” captain Dion Phaneuf said, referring to a 6-3 loss to the Flames on Friday. “We talked about how unacceptable our effort was last night and the compete level was not there. Tonight it was a lot better, but it’s disappointing to not come out of here with a point or two points.”
But anything would have been an improvement over the woeful performance in Calgary Friday in a 6-3 loss.
Nazem Kadri returned to action after a team-imposed three-game suspension for disciplinary issues.
“You’d rather be playing than not,” Kadri said. “It felt good to be out there. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but it felt like we did a lot of positive things.”
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