Music: {allcanada} Price, Canadiens end Flames' winning streak

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

{allcanada} Price, Canadiens end Flames' winning streak

The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 - Justin Timberlake

MONTREAL -- Michael Cammalleri faced the Montreal Canadiens for the first time since they traded him to the Calgary Flames between periods of a game, and it was the player he was traded for who turned that first encounter into a loss.

Rene Bourque scored at 16:15 of the second period to give Carey Price all the cushion he would need in a 1-0 Canadiens win Tuesday against the Flames at Bell Centre.

Price made 27 saves for his second shutout in four starts and has now stopped 130 of the 134 shots he has faced in that span, a save percentage of .970.

The Canadiens (30-21-6) snapped a two-game losing streak (0-1-1) to move into third place in the Atlantic Division because of the Toronto Maple Leafs' 4-1 loss on the road to the Florida Panthers.

The Flames (21-28-7) saw their season-high five-game winning streak come to an end.

Bourque was acquired from the Flames on Jan. 12, 2012 for Cammalleri in a trade consummated over the second intermission of a Canadiens road game against the Boston Bruins, and his second goal in 21 games gave Montreal the victory.

Brandon Prust did most of the heavy lifting on the Bourque goal, entering the Flames zone, stopping next to the Calgary net to wait for Dennis Wideman to slide by and then banking a shot off Bourque's leg and behind Reto Berra at 16:15 of the second period.

To make matters worse for Cammalleri he was called for hooking with over 30 seconds remaining in regulation, which helped the Canadiens ice the win when David Desharnais scored into an empty net with 10.1 seconds to play.

Berra made 26 saves to keep the Flames in the game in the absence of injured starter Karri Ramo, who was also acquired in the same trade that sent Cammalleri to Calgary.

The Canadiens scored one goal in a third straight game, but this time Price allowed them to get a victory out of it, though he wasn't challenged very often.

The Flames became an offensive machine in winning every game of a five-game homestand with 20 goals, but that firepower did not travel East with them.

That was most evident at 4:36 of the second period when Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller, Montreal's top two penalty-killing centers, were called for simultaneous penalties to give Calgary two minutes at 5-on-3. The Flames were credited with three shots on goal on the power play, none of them particularly dangerous, and rarely threatened from then onward.

The closest the Flames came to scoring was when Lee Stempniak's rather innocuous shot at 1:44 of the second squeezed through Price and landed on the goal line, slowly creeping forward but not quite crossing it. The play went to video review, which confirmed the puck stayed out.

The game marked the Canadiens debut of forward Dale Weise, acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on Monday in exchange for defenseman Raphael Diaz. Weise played well on a fourth line with Ryan White and Michael Bournival, with the three combining for nine of Montreal's 27 shots on goal and consistently pressuring the Flames in the offensive zone.

The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 - Justin Timberlake