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Price, Canadiens shutdown Flyers

Nov 17, 2010 - 3:52 AM Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Carey Price stopped all 41 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season, as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0, at Bell Centre.

Brian Gionta registered a goal and two assists for the Canadiens, who have won four straight games and increased their lead atop the Northeast Division to six points. Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec also scored in the victory.

"That's the game we wanted to play," said Price. "Our penalty kill is rolling right now, and that's been the key to our success. (The Flyers) have an impressive lineup with a lot of goal scorers, but our guys did a great job defensively tonight."

Flyers rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made his 11th consecutive start and allowed three goals on 28 shots. Philadelphia on Saturday began a stretch of three games in four nights and it was believed that Brian Boucher would start one of the three contests, but Bobrovsky has been between the pipes in every game since October 26 and showed signs of fatigue in this one.

Philadelphia suffered its first regulation loss since the last game that Boucher started on October 25. Despite this setback, Philly still leads the Atlantic Division and is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games overall.

This was the first meeting between these teams since the Eastern Conference finals in May, which the Flyers won in five games.

The Canadiens opened the scoring midway through the first period. Skating 5- on-3, the Habs worked the puck around their offensive zone until Gionta held control along the goal line to the left of the net. Gionta then passed into the slot for Cammalleri, who was wide open and buried a one-timer for his fifth goal of the season at the 9:36 mark.

Near the midpoint of the second stanza, it was the Flyers who gained a two-man advantage after minor penalties to Hal Gill and P.K. Subban allowed Philly to skate 5-on-3 for 30 seconds. During that span, several quality scoring chances were thwarted by Price, including a one-timer from the centerpoint by Chris Pronger and a wrister by Danny Briere from the left circle.

"We owned the second period -- we dominated," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "It was frustrating because the shots and scoring chances were heavily in our favor, but we couldn't seem to find a goal."

Soon after the action returned to 5-on-5, Montreal made it 2-0 at 13:48 via Plekanec's seventh goal of the season. From along the right half-wall in the neutral zone, Gionta chipped the puck over the blue line and Plekanec gained control. From the near circle, Plekanec looked across the slot as if to pass but instead fired a wrister under the pads of the unsuspecting Bobrovsky.

At the 6:24 mark of the final period, Gionta's power-play tally created a three-goal cushion. Following a goaltender interference call on James van Riemsdyk, the Habs moved with speed through the neutral zone and Plekanec passed ahead to Gionta, who gained control in the left slot. Gionta maneuvered toward the left post for a stuffer attempt, and the puck caromed off the skate of Philadelphia defenseman Kimmo Timonen and over the goal line.

Game Notes

Montreal's Jeff Halpern left the game in the first minute of third period. He needed help from the training staff to walk to the dressing room...This was the seventh career shutout for Price...The Flyers are winless in six of their last eight trips to Bell Centre...The Habs were 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Flyers had eight power-play opportunities...The contest featured 76 total penalty minutes.