Panthers winning streak ends at six with shutout loss to Canadiens

MONTREAL-- Carey Price made 29 saves, and the Montreal Canadiens ended the Florida Panthers' winning streak at six games with a 4-0 victory at Bell Centre on Sunday.

Jeff Petry had four assists for Montreal (24-22-7), which has won two straight games and six of eight.
It was Price's 47th NHL shutout, moving him past Ken Dryden for third in Canadiens history.
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Canadiens highlights]
"It's pretty cool," Price said. "It's special for me because I had a conversation with Ken, I think it was my third season in the League when things weren't going that well, and he helped me through it. So I'm very grateful for that and I'm looking forward to keep on going."
Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves for Florida (28-17-5), which played its first game since Jan. 21. The Panthers are 13-5-0 in their past 18 games.
"They came ready to play," Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. "Right off the bat, they were engaged physically, they won all the loose-puck battles, were first to pucks, and were much better in front of our net, and we were not good in front of their net."
Nick Suzuki gave Montreal a 1-0 lead with his 10th goal at 5:25 of the first period. He scored on a wrist shot into the top right corner after Joel Armia relayed Petry's breakout pass from the Canadiens zone.

"That was a great play by [Armia]," Petry said. "Mine was just to make that first pass. I didn't see anything in the middle, so for [Armia] to one-touch that over to [Suzuki], I think that's the one that set up the breakaway there."
Artturi Lehkonen deflected Petry's shot from the right point at 6:01 of the second period to give Montreal a 2-0 lead.
Tomas Tatar made it 3-0 at 13:35 from the goalmouth on a centering pass from Phillip Danault, who recovered Petry's shot behind the net.
Brendan Gallagher gave the Canadiens a 4-0 lead with a power-play goal at 10:46 of the third period. He deflected Petry's shot from the right point to score for a second straight game after missing six with an upper-body injury.

"We'll have to find a way to protect the house better," Bobrovsky said.

They said it

"We've got 32 (games) to go. You're just looking at one game ahead, how important it's going to be for both teams, and that's where we're at. You know, you want to be a [Stanley Cup Playoff] team, you've got to do everything you can to find the way to win two points. And that's we're concerned in the game, and that's going to be our concentration. And now we're playing a team (the Toronto Maple Leafs) on Monday night that's got the same incentive we do and they're probably breathing the same air in the playoff race." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville
"We had to had to play a strong defensive game for what they have offensively on that side, but our game plan was to chip pucks in. Their defensemen are prone to turnovers when you're putting the puck behind them and you're pressuring them, and I thought our forwards did a good job with that." -- Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry

Need to know

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov sustained a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return. "We'll find out more [Sunday] but we're thinking that it's not serious, but we'll get a better gauge on the timing of it," Quenneville said. ... Florida general manager Dale Tallon reached 1,000 games as an NHL GM. He is the eighth active GM to reach the milestone, and the 34th in history. ... Panthers forward Mike Hoffman had his 10-game point streak end (13 points; five goals, eight assists). ... George Hainsworth holds the Canadiens record with 75 shutouts; Jacques Plante is second with 58. ... Petry, who had his NHL career high for points in a game, is the first Canadiens player to have four assists in a game since Jonathan Drouin in an 8-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 26, 2019. He is the first Canadiens defenseman to do so since Oct. 23, 2015, when Andrei Markov had a goal and four assists in a 7-2 win at the Buffalo Sabres.

What's next

Panthers: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, TSN4, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday (2 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, TVAS, FS-O, NHL.TV)