Canadiens at Jets
The Montreal Canadiens are not accustomed to seeing Carey Price play like this in goal, and the same thing can be said for the Winnipeg Jets and Connor Hellebuyck. The two teams meet Saturday in Winnipeg and Price - who has allowed four or more goals seven times in 11 starts - will sit with a minor lower-body injury in favor of Al Montoya, while Hellebuyck seeks to maintain a pace that ranks him in the top five in the NHL in save percentage and goals against average.
Price, who won 37 games a season ago and the Hart Trophy winner in 2014-15, is 3-7-1 with a league-high 39 goals allowed and a .877 save percentage for the Canadiens, who fell 6-3 at Minnesota on Thursday in the second of a four-game road trip. “I’m just worried about trying to stop pucks,” Price told reporters after surrendering five goals on 26 shots against the Wild. “Just try to find a way to get through it.” The Jets are soaring, going 7-1-2 since dropping their first two games of the season after beating Dallas 5-2 on Thursday, and Hellebuyck’s 1.92 goals against average (third in the NHL) and .938 save percentage (fourth) is a big reason why. “We were ready to play,” Jets center Mark Scheifele told the media after recording a hat trick in Thursday’s victory.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVA, Sportsnet
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (4-8-1): Forward Brendan Gallagher, who finished with 10 goals last season, scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season in Thursday’s defeat. Montoya makes his fourth appearance of the season, five days after stopping 25-of-28 shots in an 8-3 victory at Ottawa. Montreal mustered only two shots on its lone power play Thursday and starts the weekend 28th in power-play percentage (13.5 percent)
ABOUT THE JETS (7-3-2): Winnipeg snapped a 5-for-37 skid on its power play with two first-period goals Thursday and did not allow a power-play opportunity to a Dallas team that leads the league in that category. Scheifele has seven points in his past three games (four goals, three assists), while Patrik Laine snapped a four-game pointless streak with a goal. Hellebuyck is 7-0-1 and has surrendered two goals or fewer in eight of his nine appearances.
OVERTIME
1. The Jets have outscored opponents 20-9 in the first period this season.
2. Montreal recalled G Charlie Lindgren from the American Hockey League to back up Montoya on Saturday.
3. Winnipeg has allowed 21 goals in its past 10 games after giving up 13 goals in its first two contests.