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 Left winger Matt Beleskey scored midway through the third period
to lift Ducks to a 2-1 win over Montreal on Thursday night at the
Bell Centre.
"It's huge," Beleskey said of the victory following the club's 6-2
loss to Toronto on Tuesday. "We always talk about how you never want
to lose two in a row and I thought we played a really solid 60
minutes. A couple of hiccups in the second but (goaltender) Freddie
(Andersen) was there for us. That's a huge bounce-back for our
team."
Andersen, in his 20th straight start, stopped 23 shots for Anaheim
(22-7-5).
Netminder Carey Price made 21 saves for Montreal (20-11-2), which
saw its three-game winning streak snapped.
Center David Desharnais tallied the lone goal for the Canadiens.
A rough sequence for Montreal's fourth line allowed the Ducks to get
on the board first. Hemmed in their own end, the unit iced the puck,
only to see the sequence repeat itself and force Montreal head coach
Michel Therrien to call his timeout. Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf won
the ensuing faceoff and got the puck back to Lindholm, whose shot
from the left point beat a screened Price at 8:16 of the first
period.
"In the first period we had a couple of bad shifts that hurt us a
bit," said right winger P.A. Parenteau. "We rebounded well, played a
good second period and a good third period, too. It could have gone
either way. It was a good game for both teams."
Outshot for the better part of the first period, the Canadiens
brought themselves closer to the Ducks on the shot clock to close
out the frame and then held them in check in the second. More than
10 minutes passed in the middle stanza before Anaheim finally got a
shot on Price.
"Yeah, they had some good lucks but I felt I stayed calm and let the
puck hit me instead of chasing it," Andersen said. That's the
easiest way to be a goalie."
A Montreal power play gave the home crowd something to cheer about
at 5:27. With left winger Patrick Maroon in the box, blue-liner
Andrei Markov skated to the top of the left circle before sending a
perfect pass to Desharnais in the right circle. Desharnais fired a
bullet on the one-timer for his fourth of the season.
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Beleskey's team-leading 15th goal put the Ducks ahead 2-1 at 8:33
when he took a pass from right winger Rickard Rakell to the side of
the slot and roofed it past Price.
The Canadiens felt they had their chances in this one. And while the
loss was disappointing, they weren't dwelling on missed
opportunities.
"It's hockey, sometimes it happens," Markov said of the Canadiens'
inability to get more pucks past Andersen. "You have to learn from
that and move forward and next game be hungrier and be better."
Left winger Max Pacioretty left the game at 4:04 of the third period
after suffering an upper-body injury following a hard, late hit from
Anaheim defenseman Clayton Stoner in the Ducks' end and did not
return. Therrien said after the game that he went to the hospital as
a precaution.
NOTES: Prior to the game, the Canadiens honored former captain and
former Ducks center Saku Koivu, who retired in September after 18
NHL seasons. ... Anaheim LW Rene Bourque made his first return to
Montreal since being traded to the Ducks on Nov. 20 in exchange for
D Bryan Allen. ... Allen sat out the game against the former team as
he continues to recover from illness, while Canadiens D Mike Weaver
(concussion) and C Lars Eller (upper body) missed their fourth and
fifth games, respectively. ... Called up from AHL Norfolk on
Wednesday, Ducks LW Emerson Etem drew in with RW Kyle Palmeri out
due to a shoulder injury. ... Anaheim scratched D Mark Fistric and
LW Dany Heatley (groin).
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