Canadiens win 7th straight
MONTREAL — Much has been made of how the Montreal Canadiens don’t rely quite as much on star goalie Carey Price this season. However, he had to be at the top of his game for 1 1/2 periods against the St. Louis Blues.
Price made a season-high 38 saves, including 17 in the first period, to post his second shutout in the last three games as the Canadiens beat the Blues 3-0 Tuesday night. Montreal extended its club-record winning streak to start the season to seven games.
The save of the game was a spectacular glove effort early in the second on Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko, who was held off the scoresheet for the first time this season.
“I actually wound up overplaying it a little bit, so I kind of got a little bit lucky being able to get a piece of it,” Price said.
The Blues dominated the opening period but the Canadiens came out with the lead on a goal from captain Max Pacioretty. Offseason signee Alex Semin got his first Montreal goal in the second and Torrey Mitchell scored in the third on Jake Allen, who made 33 saves.
The Blues ended a four-game winning streak, but finished a six-game road trip with four wins.
Price, the league’s most valuable player and top goaltender last season, has allowed only six goals in six starts. It was the 36th shutout of his career.
Islanders 4, Blue Jackets 0: Defenseman Thomas Hickey and right winger Cal Clutterbuck scored goals in a span of 2:16 in the third period to send the New York Islanders to a 4-0 win over Columbus.
Center John Tavares and left winger Nikolay Kulemin also scored for the Islanders, while goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 37 saves to earn his second win of the season.
It was the 37th shutout of Halak’s career.
Devils 3, Coyotes 2 (OT): Defenseman Adam Larsson scored in overtime while goaltender Cory Schneider made 18 saves to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
Center Travis Zajac and left winger Mike Cammalleri also scored for New Jersey.
Goaltender Mike Smith made 22 saves for Arizona.
Right winger Anthony Duclair and left winger Mikkel Boedker scored Arizona’s goals.
Penguins 3, Panthers 2 (OT): Center Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal 1:21 into overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from squandering a two-goal lead in the third period to beat the Florida Panthers. Malkin powered a shot past Florida goalie Roberto Luongo with the teams skating 4-on-3 for his third goal of the season. Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the season. Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots.
Stars 2, Flyers 1: The Dallas Stars continued their surge by holding off the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2-1 win.
Dallas (5-1-0) won their fourth consecutive game thanks to goals from center Tyler Seguin and left winger Jamie Benn.
Center Sean Couturier scored the Flyers’ only goal on an awkward deflection in traffic during the third period.
Predators 5, Lightning 4 (SO): Filip Forsberg scored the only goal of the shootout as Pekka Rinne stopped all three Tampa Bay shots for a 5-4 victory.
James Neal scored two goals while Mike Fisher and Shea Weber added their first goals of the season. Rinne came up with 25 saves in the win.
Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Ryan Callahan and Erik Condra scored in regulation for Tampa Bay while Ben Bishop made 29 saves.
Capitals 6, Flames 2: Left winger Alex Ovechkin reached a memorable milestone as he scored a goal and an assist to surpass 900 career points as the Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames.
Nicklas Backstrom scored twice, while left winger Andre Burakovsky and right winger T.J. Oshie also scored for Washington. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 17 saves.
Sean Monahan and Mark Giordano scored for the Flames.
