Canadiens Game Day: Win over Leafs could be turning point for Habs

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It’s early to talk about turning points in a season, but the third period Saturday night in Toronto might turn out to have been just that for the Canadiens.

Toronto opened the scoring at the 3:36 mark of the first period after Auston Matthews stripped the Canadiens’ Phillip Danault of the puck behind the Montreal net and fed Mitch Marner in the slot to put the Maple Leafs up 1-0.

The Canadiens were 1-3-0 in their previous four games, while scoring only six goals, and were coming off a 3-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night at the Bell Centre. Midway through Saturday night’s game, the Canadiens only had nine shots on goal and fans watching on TV at home were probably either falling asleep, getting upset with flashbacks to last season, or looking for something to watch on Netflix.

After two periods, the score remained 1-0 for the Leafs thanks mainly to Canadiens goalie Carey Price, who made several big saves.

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In the third period, the Canadiens paid Price back, outshooting the Leafs 12-6 and getting goals from Tyler Toffoli at 6:11 and Brendan Gallagher at 16:53 to beat the Leafs 2-1. Toffoli’s goal came after the Canadiens had gone more than 109 minutes of play without scoring.

The win improved the Canadiens’ record to 9-4-2 and they are now only three points behind the first-place Leafs (11-3-1) in the North Division standings. With a loss, the Canadiens would have fallen seven points behind the Leafs and also allowed the teams behind them to catch up. The Canadiens don’t play again until they face the Leafs next Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

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For the Leafs, it was their first regulation-time loss in 10 games after going 8-0-1 in their previous nine while outscoring the opposition 37-21.

“I think the first period we chopped up that puck pretty good,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. “We were fighting it the whole period and it really felt that we were on our heels. When you lose three out of four and you’re playing probably one of the better teams right now in the league — they’re as hot as can be — so we were a little tentative.”

And a lot boring, bringing back bad memories of last season.

As bad as the Canadiens were last season — finishing 24th in the overall NHL standings with a 31-31-9 record — they were only shut out once, losing 4-0 to the Lightning in Tampa Bay in their 69th game of the season. The last time the Canadiens were shut out in consecutive games was in March of 2018, when they lost 4-0 to the Leafs in Toronto and 2-0 to the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre.

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“We made a couple of adjustments after the first period and then it just seemed like in the second period we slowly started seeing our team kind of pick up the pace of the game,” Julien said. “Started making plays, started playing with confidence again. And then in the third period I thought we played more the way we need to play. Our forecheck was much better, we were moving the puck quickly and our forecheck created a lot of turnovers. We had shots at the net, we were crashing the net and we found a way to win a hockey game. It’s obviously a win that we really needed right now, so it feels good going into that break that we come off a win.”

Julien admitted there was a sense or urgency in the third period.

“Let’s not kid ourselves …  you come out of here with another loss — it’s four losses in the last five games — you got a whole week to sit on that,” the coach said. “It makes a huge difference. This win here is one of those wins that you need at the right time of the schedule. This is huge for us. Not that we can relax … not at all. I think we realize we got to keep working and we got a lot of work to do and we’ll do that this week. But it puts the mindset in a much better position than had it gone the other way.”

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The Canadiens now have a 6-0-2 record on the road, but are 3-4-0 at the Bell Centre.

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Price ends personal slump

Price put an end to his personal two-game losing streak, making 21 saves as the Canadiens ended up outshooting the Leafs 25-22.

Price improved his record to 5-2-0 with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage and should also quiet talk of a goalie controversy during the six-day break in the schedule. Backup goalie Jake Allen has a 4-2-0 record with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.

“I think Carey was really good for us early in the game when we were struggling managing the puck and we seemed nervous,” Julien said. “It seemed like we were playing on our heels. The Leafs came at us really hard in the first and we didn’t really react well. But as the game went on we took control and gave Carey a much easier third period than we did in the first. But he’s the reason that allowed us to stay in the game and win.”

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Gallagher credited the Canadiens’ coaching staff for remaining calm during the first two periods while allowing the players to find their game.

“But the biggest guy back there was Pricey,” Gallagher said. “He gives you a chance to win every single game and you can circle this one. We don’t have a shot there in the third period if we don’t have him to really settle it down. That’s what he’s done his whole career. I’m pretty used to it, but you don’t take it for granted.

“Our goaltender gave us the biggest opportunity to go out there and find a way to win that hockey game,” Gallagher added. “We were able to come out and outplay them for 20 minutes and win a hockey game. That’s kind of what this league is. You have to take advantage of these opportunities when you get them. We’ve been on the other side where you outplay teams and you let them hang around and you know how easy it is for them to gain momentum. Definitely areas for us to improve and get better. You definitely have to enjoy these wins when they come, but we know we have to be sharp going forward.”

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Captain Shea Weber said the Canadiens were feeling the tension with the possibility of losing their third straight game.

“I think that’s been in the last couple of games, to be honest,” he said. “Frustration was setting in, for sure. It’s hard to stay loose. You have to get results and I think we just gutted it out. It was a gutsy effort tonight. Guys dug in and everyone stepped up in a different way. Carey played great and held us in it and then guys found a way to get it done in the third.”

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Gallagher gets the winner

Toffoli’s goal was his team-leading 10th of the season and his first in five games.

The winning goal by Gallagher was his sixth of the season and his first in four games.

“Gally… what can you say,” Julien said. “You talk about him giving 100 per cent every game. Whether it’s a good game, mediocre or just an average game, it doesn’t really matter. He’s there giving all he’s got. So it’s rewarding to see a player like that score a big goal.”

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Tough start for Danault

What has already been a tough season for Phillip Danault got even worse when he was stripped of the puck behind the net early in the first period for Toronto’s goal.

But Danault was able to bounce back and he made a beautiful pass to Toffoli to set up the Canadiens’ first goal.

Danault, who is still looking for his first goal this season, was asked what he said to himself after being the scapegoat for Toronto’s early goal.

“Just stay in the present,” he said. “You don’t want to overthink. It’s hard, hockey. If you start thinking, you’re done. You can’t think … you got to play. When I play, personally, and don’t think, that’s when I’m at my best. After that (Toronto) goal, I feel like it just loosened me up. I’m like: All right, nothing to lose. Let’s just play. And we did it and we responded as a team and it was two big goals there at the end.”

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Tatar a healthy scratch

Julien made Tomas Tatar a healthy scratch for the game, replacing him with Corey Perry.

When asked after the game about his decision, Julien said that the team’s standards have been raised this season and that he wants more from Tatar, not just on the scoresheet. Tatar has 4-4-8 totals and is even in plus/minus after playing in the first 14 games, but Julien said there are little details he needs to improve in his game, including not losing the puck as much and doing a better job getting the puck out of the defensive zone.

Julien added that with no injuries on the team, players are working hard to get in the lineup and that he has to keep everyone honest.

Tatar has been Gallagher’s regular linemate the last two seasons and the two are also good friends.

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“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him,” Gallagher said after the game when asked about Tatar. “I will. I can say this about Tuna … when I came off the ice he had the biggest smile on his face. He’s an unbelievable team guy, he’s a big part of our group. We’re going to need him. Tonight he obviously wasn’t out there with us, but he’s going to be a big part of this group going forward. We know what type of player he is.

“I know how he is,” Gallagher added. “He’s going to be fine. He’s dealt with this before in his career. He’s responded the right way. As his friend, obviously, I’m going to try to talk with him. As a teammate, you know how important he is.”

Perry logged 11:37 of ice time with no shots and two hits while playing on the fourth line with Jake Evans and Paul Byron.

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Mete gets back in lineup

Victor Mete returned to the Canadiens’ lineup after being a healthy scratch for the previous four games, taking Brett Kulak’s spot on the third defence pairing with Alexander Romanov.

It was only the third game Mete has played this season and it was by far his best as he logged 13:51 of ice time and showed confidence skating with the puck in both ends of the ice. He didn’t have any shots, but did have two hits.

“I thought he was really good tonight,” Julien said about Mete. “I know he hasn’t played much but that was one of Victor’s strong games. He really skated and moved the puck well. He was assertive and all the stuff. So I really liked his game tonight. I thought he was solid.”

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Some stats

There was only one power-play in the game and the Leafs went 0-for-1. The Canadiens outhit the Leafs 46-16 (that’s not a typo).

Jeff Petry led the Canadiens in ice time with 23:12, followed by Joel Edmundson (22:43) and Weber (22:26). Danault led the forwards in ice time with 18:23, followed by Toffoli (17:28) and Josh Anderson (16:30).

Gallagher led the Canadiens with five shots, while Jonathan Drouin had four despite getting only 13:26 of ice time. Anderson had a team-leading six hits, while Artturi Lehkonen, Weber and Edmundson had four each.

The Canadiens won 49 per cent of the faceoffs in the game. Jesperi Kotkaniemi went 7-2 (78 per cent) and Danault went 6-6 (50 per cent), while Nick Suzuki really struggled, going 2-8 (20 per cent). Jake Evans only took two faceoffs and won them both.

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Senators trade Galchenyuk

Former Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk is joining his sixth NHL team.

On Saturday, the Ottawa Senators traded Galchenyuk to the Carolina Hurricanes, along with centre Cedric Paquette, in exchange for centre Ryan Dzingel. In eight games with the Senators, Galchenyuk had one goal, no assists and was minus-6.

The Canadiens traded Galchenyuk to the Arizona Coyotes on June 15, 2018 in exchange for Max Domi. Since then, Galchenyuk has been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins and then the Minnesota Wild before signing with the Senators as a free agent during the off-season. Now he has been traded yet again to Carolina.

The 27-year-old Galchenyuk has a one-year, US$1.05-million contract.

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What’s next?

The Canadiens flew back to Montreal after Saturday night’s game and will enjoy a day off Sunday.

They have practices scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard before facing the Leafs again next Saturday night at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., CBC, SN, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

scowan@postmedia.com

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