CANADIENS
Montreal

5-2

COYOTES
Arizona

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Galchenyuk – Gallagher
Lehkonen – Plekanec – Radulov
Byron – Desharnais – Shaw
Danault – Mitchell – Flynn[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Beaulieu – Weber
Markov – Petry
Emelin – Sergachev
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Montoya

Scratches

Daniel Carr, Zach Redmond, Greg Pateryn

Injured Reserve

Game Report

Not since Chris Chelios have the Canadiens been able to boast of having one of the top three defencemen in their lineup. Tonight, Bell centre fans were able to witness the impact (quite literally) of one of the NHL’s best. Shea Weber even impressed his teammates with his bone-rattling physical play and the power in his stick.

When asked about Weber, Carey Price succinctly said, “He’s a big body, — I’ve been saying it all along — big shot, big character.”

Weber provided offence, a goal and an assist (not including a hit post) on four shots. He also shut down the opposition with three hits and four blocked shots, finishing at plus-3 for the game. Once again Weber was the team leader in ice-time with 25:28.

It was another strong game for Alexei Emelin, who scored his first goal in calendar year-and-a-half. Emelin led the team in hits and stepped in when the Coyotes were taking liberties with Mikhail Sergachev and Alex Galchenyuk.

While Alexander Radulov doesn’t appear in the scoring summary, he had, what is becoming, his typical solid performance.  Linemate Artturi Lehkonen unleashed a wrister for his second goal of the season. Dare I say, that signs of chemistry between the wingers and  Tomas Plekanec was evident in this game. Plekanec had two assists on the night.

Let’s not forget Brendan Gallagher who registered an assist and led the team with nine shots on goal.

With Carey Price looking like Carey Price back in goal, there is reason to be optimistic with no regulation losses in the Canadiens first four games. Now if the Habs were to add size to the forward ranks, namely Michael McCarron and Jacob De La Rose, this team may have the ingredients necessary to go deep into the post-season.

~~~

▲     Shea Weber, Brendan Gallagher, Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Alexander Radulov

▼     Nathan Beaulieu, Mikhail Sergachev

1. Shea Weber  MTL
2. Brendan Gallagher MTL
3. Alexander Radulov MTL

• When a ringing cell phone interrupted Michel Therrien, he said, “I won’t do my John Tortorella. It’s a good thing that we won, eh?”

Carey Price

•  On Shea Weber: “Big body, big shot, big character.”

Shea Weber

• “Carey was good as always. He made some key saves at key times. We know what we’re going to get with him. He’s a great player and a great competitor, and he gives us a chance to win every night.”
• “It’s unbelievable, I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s pretty special. I’m happy to be a part of this team, this organization. Hopefully, we can continue to do good things here.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

Emelin with an enormous hit! What a game so far! #Habs

— All Habs (@AllHabs) October 21, 2016

ICECAPS | Forwards In Line to Make the Jump to the Canadiens https://t.co/vVs6indDOx pic.twitter.com/BNutKc5wEu

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) October 20, 2016

Habs annouonce defenceman Zach Redmond fractured his foot in practice and will be out for six weeks. Welcome to Montreal, Zach.

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 20, 2016

Follow @AllHabs on Twitter