Canadiens end Jarry’s shutout streak, race past Penguins 4-1

The Penguins couldn’t during a dominant second period by the Canadiens that gave them their third victory in four games following an eight-game winless streak. Price allowed Jake Guentzel’s 17th goal just 2:59 into the first but otherwise outplayed Jarry, stopping 33 shots and keeping the Penguins in check during a third-period push.

“When Carey is solid and making big saves and calm and making things look easy it certainly helps the confidence of anybody else in front of him,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said.

That’s the way it’s been for Jarry recently. He began the night leading the league in goals-against average and save percentage behind back-to-back shutouts against St. Louis and Arizona last week. A point-blank stop on Nick Cousins early in the second period helped Jarry slip past the Tomas Vokoun’s shutout mark of 173:06 set in 2013, but Jarry’s luck ran out shortly after he surpassed Vokoun in the team record book.

Some sloppy play in front of Jarry helped.

Pittsburgh was on the penalty kill in the second period following a slashing call against Evgeni Malkin when defenceman John Marino and forward Brandon Tanev both whiffed on clearing attempts. Montreal’s Phillip Danault grabbed the loose puck and slipped a pass to Brendan Gallagher to set up a two-on-none. Gallagher set up Tatar, who beat Jarry to the short side, the first goal Jarry allowed since the second period of a loss to Columbus on Nov. 29.

“I think we got our legs back as the game went along,” Tatar said. “We played really structured. We can play this way, we can win a lot of games.”

Jarry’s attempt at putting together another scoreless run didn’t last long. Armia flipped a puck up the side boards, batted down Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang’s clearing attempt then raced around Letang before stuffing it by Jarry to give Montreal the lead 16:17 into the second.

“I thought we got outplayed in the second period,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Give Montreal credit. They played well. But I don’t think we helped ourselves either. We made some poor decisions. We weren’t strong enough on pucks and as a result we didn’t control the period like we’re capable of.”

Weber followed just before the end of the period with the 213th goal of his career, and perhaps one of slickest. The veteran defenceman broke down the left side, faked a shot then raced behind the net for a wrap-around score with 15 seconds left in the period that seemed to sap the energy out of the Penguins.

Asked when was the last time he put together a goal like that, Weber joked it was probably while playing a video game. Gallagher’s empty-net goal with 1:39 remaining snapped Pittsburgh’s three-game winning streak.

NOTES: Jarry stopped 82 straight shots during his shutout streak, which is the longest in the NHL this season. … Montreal F Jesperi Kotkaniemi missed his second straight game due to a concussion. … Pittsburgh fell to 7-4-3 without captain Sidney Crosby, who remains sidelined while recovering from sports hernia surgery. … The Canadiens went 1 for 1 on the power play. The Penguins were 0 for 1. … Guentzel has scored 11 of his 17 goals at home, fourth-most in the NHL.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Welcome Ottawa on Wednesday. The Senators won the first meeting of the season 2-1 on Nov. 20.

Penguins: Host Columbus on Thursday. Pittsburgh is 1-1-0 against its Metropolitan Division rival so far this season.

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Will Graves, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Canadiens end Jarry’s shutout streak, race past Penguins 4-1

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