Canadiens forward Joel Armia scored the game-winner with less than three minutes left to give the Canadiens a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 4 vs Columbus Blue Jackets 2 | Final
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
15 Alex Newhook - 14 Nick Suzuki - 11 Brendan Gallagher
22 Cole Caufield - 28 Christian Dvorak - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
40 Joel Armia - 91 Sean Monahan - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson - 71 Jake Evans - 56 Jesse Ylonen
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 52 Justin Barron
21 Kaiden Guhle - 27 Gustav Lindstrom
47 Jayden Struble - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
Goaltenders
Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 34 Jake Allen
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Mattias Norlinder, Michael Pezzetta, Cayden Primeau
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), David Savard (hand), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Arber Xhekaj (upper body), Jordan Harris (lower body)
Game Report
Canadiens head coach Marty St. Louis called it a team victory resulting from depth. Indeed! Montreal got goals from each of the team's top three lines with Joel Armia being the surprise hero to score the game winner.
But beyond the shallow praise, it was a sloppily-played game by both teams: errant passes led to turnovers aplenty! Mental mistakes created opportunities. Neither team was sharp in this game.
Prior to tonight, the Canadiens last played on Saturday afternoon. So, with three days off, it took them a period to find their game. The Blue Jackets were coming off an upset win over the Boston Bruins and lacked intensity throughout this contest.
Columbus twice relinquished two-goal leads. Montreal took their first and only lead of the game with 2:57 remaining in the third period.
Despite getting the win, it was an off night for Sam Montembeault. The 27-year-old lacked body control in this game. He regularly over-played the puck putting himself wildly out of position for rebounds. Fortunately his teammates came to the rescue more often than not.
Sportsnet's Mark Spector reported that three members of the Edmonton Oilers hockey operations staff took in the game at Nationwide Arena: assistant general manager Brad Holland, pro scout Warren Rychel and goaltending scout Jeff Salajko.
Game Statistics
Canadiens (10-10-2)
Shots: 31
Face-off %: 51.4
Power play: 0/0
Penalty minutes: 4
Hits: 20
Blocks: 12
Blue Jackets (7-13-4)
Shots: 28
Face-off %: 48.6
Power play: 0/1
Penalty minutes: 2
Hits: 23
Blocks: 18
Scoring Summary
Canadiens Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Newhook (7), Caufield (7)
3rd period: Armia (2), Lindstrom (2)-ENG
OT: --
SO: --
Blue Jackets Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Laine (4), Chinakhov (3)
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --
Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (W) 5-3-1
CBJ: Merzlikins (L) 5-8-3
Canadiens Players of the Game
Kaiden Guhle - Guhle had the primary assist on Alex Newhook's goal enroute to playing a few seconds short of 25 minutes in this game.
Joel Armia - Armia scored the game-winner in his first game since being recalled from the Laval Rocket. Armia played 16:26 in ice time on the third line.
Alex Newhook - Newhook scored his seventh goal of the season. He's tied for the team lead in that category with Cole Caufield.
Video Highlights
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7HZOd5nHW8[/embed]
Post-game Quotes
Joel Armia
“It's always a good feeling when you score. I will take all the positives from this match and continue to move forward."
Game Preview
Armia Returns to the Canadiens Lineup | PREVIEW: MTL @ CBJ
Up Next
The Canadiens return to Montreal to host the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Cayden Primeau gets the start in goal.
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