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Tyler Toffoli
scored the game's lone goal and goaltender Carey Price recorded
his eighth career playoff shutout to give the visiting Montreal
Canadiens a 1-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets and a surprising
2-0 lead in their Stanley Cup playoff series.
Price made all 30 saves needed to earn his first shutout of this
year's playoffs.
The underdog Canadiens will look to take a stranglehold on the
best-of-seven, second-round series from the North Division when
it resumes Sunday in Montreal, with Game 4 on Monday.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots for the Jets, who were
without suspended top-line center Mark Scheifele after he was
handed a four-game banishment for the charging major penalty he
received after hitting Jake Evans in the series opener.
Toffoli's short-handed goal 101 seconds into the second period
was the lone offensive production. After a Winnipeg chance
missed the net and sprung him, Toffoli led a two-on-one rush
that he ended by electing to shoot from the right circle.
The Canadiens have opened the scoring in five consecutive
outings, seven of their nine playoff games and all six they've
played on the road.
From there, it was on Price to hold the fort for the Canadiens,
who have won five straight playoff games and haven't trailed in
any of them. Price did a masterful job, especially in the third
period when the Jets pushed furiously for the equalizer. He
turned aside Pierre-Luc Dubois early in the final frame and made
his biggest late in the affair when he denied Nikolaj Ehlers
from the slot.
Hellebuyck did all he could to give the hosts a chance. He made
a huge stop on Jesperi Kotkaniemi early in the third period and
provided a clutch save on Paul Byron late in regulation to keep
his team within one shot of tying the game, but he received no
offensive support.
With Evans out of action after the hellacious hit from Scheifele
that required him to be carted off via stretcher, the Canadiens
inserted Artturi Lehkonen in the lineup. Lehkonen collected an
assist on Toffoli's goal.
On top of being without Scheifele, Winnipeg forward Paul Stastny
and defenseman Dylan DeMelo also missed the game due to injury.
In their place were forwards Jansen Harkins and Kristian
Vesalainen and defenseman Jordie Benn.
--Field Level Media
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