PRICE MAKES 17 SAVES IN HIS SECOND STRAIGHT 4-0 SHUTOUT VICTORY

GOAL SCORERS

MTL:   E. Cole (PPG, 03:45 - 1st) , B. Gionta (08:12 - 2nd) , T. Plekanec (PPG, 07:05 - 3rd) , B. Gionta (13:47 - 3rd)

GOALIES

NYR: M. Biron (L)

 MTL: C. Price (W)

                  Earlier tonight in Montreal, the Canadiens were looking to rebound after a 4-3 lose to the Islanders with a win against the Rangers. Before the game, the Habs honored Eddy Palachak, a long time Canadiens trainer who passed away on Wednesday.“The guys loved Eddy,” explained current Habs head equipment manager, Pierre Gervais.“That was one of the things I was most surprised about when I came to the team in 1986, just how much the players absolutely loved him and respected him. Early on, he was very close with Ken Dryden; Ken would invite him over for dinner at his house and stuff like that.He and Serge Savard had a great relationship, too. At one point they owned horses together and they were close when Serge played and then even more so when he became the GM. He was quite a character and the guys loved being around him."

           So could the Habs honor Eddy with a win? Well just 3 and a half minutes in, Eric Cole came in on the right side and took a wrist shot and scored to make it 1-0 Habs lead. That was Cole 6th goal of the season and it came on the powerplay. 1 minute later, the Rangers got the puck to Gaborik in front and he was robbed by the right pad of Price. 2 minutes later, Gorges point shot was tipped by Gionta and Biron made the blocker save. 2 minutes into the second, Dubinky's dump in took a weird hop off the glass and it was stopped by Price. 6 minutes later, Gionta came in on the right side and took a wrist shot and it beat Biron to make it 2-0 Montreal. It was a shot that Biron should have had as it beat him five hole from a bad angle.

         Then with under 10 to play in period 2, Diaz's point shot was stopped five hole by Martin Biron.A few seconds later, Gomez centred the puck right to Cammalleri and he was robbed by the glove of Biron. So the score was 2-0 after 2 periods of play. 7 minutes into the second, Cole's shot from the right circle went off the post. The Habs would find a way to get the puck back to Plekanec at the point and Plekanec fired a shot past Biron to make it 3-0 Montreal. 9 minutes later, Gomez played the puck to Gionta in the slot and he one-timed a shot past Biron to make it 4-0 Montreal. That would be your Final. This was Price's second straight shutout, in a game where he only made 17 saves. This was the first time in Price's career that he has had back-to-back shitouts.

         "He's the backbone of our team, but we did do a good job of getting the puck out of our end," said Gionta. The angry Tortorella once again has some words for a member of the media who blamed Biron for the lose."Don't look at our goalie, I'll tell you that," Rangers coach John Tortorella said. "Our whole crew in front of him never had the puck and we were chasing the game. We never caught up to it." The Habs played yet another dominating home game against the Rangers as this was their 5th straight home victory versus the Rangers. This win also ended the Rangers 7 game win streak.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo