The Montreal Canadiens withstood a late flurry from the Calgary Flames on Friday night, holding on to win 3-2 for their third victory in their last four games.
Brendan Gallagher’s team-leading 14th goal of the season looked to be icing on the cake when the forward tallied at 3:10 mark of the third period to give the Canadiens a 3-0 lead, but Micheal Ferland and Matthew Tkachuk scored late for Calgary to make things interesting.
Despite the late onrush, Montreal played one of its better games of the season. The Canadiens responded from conceding five goals in a win over Vancouver by closing the space in their defensive third and limiting Calgary’s scoring chances.
Carey Price faced just 23 shots the entire night and improved to 8-3-1 since returning from a lower body injury in late November. Montreal managed 35 shots on Mike Smith’s goal, led by Gallagher’s team-high seven.
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It was the Canadiens’ fourth line that provided most of the offense though, as Byron Froese scored his first goal of the season to open the scoring. Nicolas Deslauriers doubled the lead midway through the second period.
We now know @Nicdeslauriers4 can also play a little baseball. #MTLvsCGY pic.twitter.com/fB03b1MlGW
— NHL (@NHL) December 23, 2017
The Canadiens (15-14-4) are now over the .500 mark for the first time since winning their season opener in Buffalo. Their performance tonight was a positive sign of things to come, but they still showed their flaws.
Montreal’s penalty kill, which surrendered Tkachuk’s goal, conceded for the third time in two games, while Max Pacioretty had a goal ruled out for offsides extended his scoring drought to just one goal in 17 games.
The Canadiens will get another chance to clean things up and extend their winning run Saturday night when they visit the Edmonton Oilers.