Canadiens Feast on Kraken Goaltending | RECAP: MTL @ SEA

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
11 Brendan Gallagher - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
17 Josh Anderson - 71 Jake Evans - 56 Jesse Ylonen
55 Michael Pezzetta - 36 Colin White - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 21 Kaiden Guhle
72 Arber Xhekaj - 58 David Savard
47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris

Goaltenders

Starter: 30 Cayden Primeau
Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault 

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Jesse Ylonen, Jayden Struble
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Joshua Roy (hand)

Trevor Letowski was reluctant to acknowledge his significant milestone. It was the first win for Letowski as a head coach in the National Hockey League. Given that he wears the 'interim' tag, the humble 46-year-old from Thunder Bay, ON. was quick to share the honor with his team.

This game was all about goaltending: the Canadiens had it and Seattle did not. Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer gave up four goals on six shots and exited the game before the end of the first period. Cayden Primeau made 36 saves for his seventh win of the season.

Kaiden Guhle scored his sixth goal of the season and added two assists. It was his first three-point game in the NHL. Alex Newhook scored twice and came within the width of a post from earning his first career hat trick.

Montreal was limited to 17 shots on goal for the second consecutive game. They managed just five high-danger scoring chances (5v5) in the contest. With the shaking start by Grubauer the offense was sufficient to cruise to a comfortable victory.

The Canadiens ended their four-game losing streak. Seattle suffered their eighth straight loss.

Canadiens (25-32-12)
Shots: 17
Face-off %: 52.7
Power play: 0/2
Penalty minutes: 8
Hits: 13
Blocks: 19

Kraken (44-18-8)
Shots: 37
Face-off %: 47.3
Power play: 0/4
Penalty minutes: 4
Hits: 21
Blocks: 13

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Guhle (6), Newhook (11), Suzuki (28), Newhook (12)
2nd period: Matheson (10)-SHG
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --

Kraken Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Eberle (16)
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Primeau (W) 7-7-2
SEA: Grubauer (L) 10-13-2, Daccord

Kaiden Guhle - Guhle's ability to create offense is underappreciated. He had the first three-point game of his young career and was named first star of the game.

Alex Newhook - Newhook's two goals brought him to an even dozen on the season..

Trevor Letowski

"I feel a little uncomfortable saying that’s my first NHL win as a head coach. But it was a memorable week for me just because of the way that the team rallied around each other, and the staff and players had to kind of push a little extra to keep some kind of normalcy when we're missing our leader."

Kaiden Guhle

“I think we needed a game like that just to maybe lift the weight off our shoulders a little bit. I think we were a little bit snake-bitten. We’re getting a lot of chances, just couldn’t find the back of the net. So, it definitely feels good to get those and have a game like that tonight."

The Canadiens will complete their five-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night. Game time is 9:00 pm. EDT.

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