The Montreal Canadiens were manhandled by the Minnesota Wild with Marc-Andre Fleury being serenaded by Bell Centre fans on his victory.

GAME RECAP | Minnesota Wild vs Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards
22 Cole Caufield 14 Nick Suzuki 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
70 Tanner Pearson 15 Alex Newhook  20 Juraj Slafkovsky
17 Josh Anderson 91 Sean Monahan 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta 71 Jake Evans 56 Jesse Ylonen

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson 58 David Savard
59 Kaiden Guhle 52 Johnathan Kovacevic
72 Arber Xhekaj 54 Jordan Harris

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 34 Jake Allen

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Justin Barron, Cayden Primeau

Injuries: Christian Dvorak (lower body), Carey Price (lower body), Chris Wideman (upper body), Kirby Dach (lower body)

Game Report

If Tuesday was a preview of how the Canadiens without Kirby Dach in the lineup will look like, it will be a painful season for the team's fans. The organization confirmed that Dach will miss the rest of the season after sustaining tears to his ACL and MCL in his right knee that requires surgery. 

Montreal's execution was appalling and routine plays looked complicated. Special teams determined the outcome. 

In the first period, the Minnesota Wild scored two shorthanded goals in 25 seconds during the same power play against each of Montreal's units. It was the first time since April 11th, 2009 that the Canadiens have allowed two shorthanded goals during the same power play. The Penguins accomplished the feat that night with Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes for Pittsburgh. 

Martin St. Louis and Alex Burrows will need to look (again) for solutions on the power play that is 1-for-11 since the start of the season. 

Montreal's lack of execution led to frustration and it resulted in indiscipline. Josh Anderson, Juraj Slafkovsky (twice), Cole Caufield, Tanner Pearson all took penalties in the offensive zone. Arber Xhekaj also took a bad penalty after the siren for the conclusion of the second period. 

The Wild did not let the Canadiens get away with their bad penalties and capitalized with three power play goals. St. Louis said Tuesday's penalties were unacceptable and needs to be rectified immediately. Montreal leads the NHL for the most minor infractions and penalty minutes. 

Fleury made 27 saves for what may end up being his last start in his home province. The 38-year old goalie had an easy night for the first 40 minutes before making 13 stops in the third period. 

If the news about Dach was not bad enough, Kaiden Guhle did not finish the contest due to an upper body injury that requires further evaluation. 

Game Statistics

Canadiens (1-1-1)
Shots: 29
Face-off %: 53
Power play: 0/5
Penalty minutes: 40
Hits: 26
Blocks: 20

Wild (2-1-0)
Shots: 35
Face-off %: 47
Power play: 3/8
Penalty minutes: 44
Hits: 9
Blocks: 8 

Scoring Summary

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: No scoring
2nd period: Pearson (2)
3rd period: Newhook (3)
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Wild Scorers
1st period: Duhaime (2)-SHG, Dewar (1)-SHG
2nd period: Eriksson Ek (2)-PPG, Kaprizov (1)-PPG
3rd period: Eriksson Ek (3)
OT: n/a
SO: n/a

Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (L) 1-1-0
MIN: Fleury (W) 1-0-0

Canadiens Players of the Game

Tanner Pearson - Scored for a second consecutive game.

Alex Newhook - Scored in his first game on second line.

Sean Monahan - Led the team with 63 percent on faceoffs.

Video Highlights

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk2wIgc6Tlo[/embed]

Post-game Quotes

Nick Suzuki

"Guys were getting frustrated. I think we just got to keep our emotions in check when that happens. We can't control the calls. All we got to do is kill off the penalty and focus on what's next. We didn't do a great job on that tonight and focused too much on the calls."

Game Preview

Montembeault vs Fleury | PREVIEW: MIN @ MTL

Up Next

The Montreal Canadiens will host the Washington Capitals on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

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