New York: The Montreal Canadiens have claimed their second victory of the week against the New York Rangers, prevailing 3-0 yesterday to reclaim sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference.
Alex Galchenyuk, Erik Cole and Lars Eller each scored a goal and added an assist while Carey Price made 17 saves for his second shutout of the season.
All three goals came in the second period.
Cole was first to get on the score sheet with a clever wrist flick early in the period before Galchenyuk doubled the advantage with a slick move near the net.
Eller closed the scoring with a powerplay slapshot with less than 30 seconds remaining in the period.
The loss was not the only concern for the Rangers who lost key defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi to injury.
The Canadiens improved to 12-4-2 with the win to be two points clear of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa and the New Jersey Devils in the East.
The Rangers dropped to 8-7-2 and are struggling in fourth spot in the Atlantic Division.
Colin Greening batted a puck out of midair for a goal with 24 seconds remaining to give the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs yesterday.
The goal is a career-highlight for Greening, who just a week ago was a healthy scratch against the Leafs, but scoring on a good friend is tough.Greening and Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens were teammates and roommates at Cornell University.
“Being able to score on Ben is one of those weird situations,” Greening said. “You always want him to do well, but not too well, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
“He played well over there and deserves a lot of accolades for his play of late.”
Scrivens was clearly aggravated by the result and struggled to offer Greening any accolades.
“It’s frustrating, he’s a good player, but you want to play a few of those better,” Scrivens said. Despite the loss Scrivens was looking to catch up with Greening before he left Scotiabank Place.
The goal came as a result of Ottawa winning the faceoff in Toronto’s end, which left Jay McClement, who was on the ice for the play, shaking his head.
Agencies
