Canadiens shut out Islanders, move into second wild card in East

MONTREAL --The Montreal Canadiens moved into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with a 4-0 win against the New York Islanders at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Carey Price made 28 saves for his fourth shutout, and Joel Armia, Jonathan Drouin and Jordan Weal each had a goal and an assist for Montreal (39-28-7). It was Price's 44th NHL shutout.
"I thought we were very assertive," Price said. "I thought we played very well on both sides of the puck."
WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Canadiens highlights]
Shea Weber also scored for the Canadiens, who are one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who lost to the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Thursday. Montreal is two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost 6-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, for the first wild card from the East.

"Obviously a lot's been said the last month or so and things went well the last couple of games, but that can be short-lived if we don't keep up the intensity and keep up the effort," Weber said.
New York (42-25-7), which has been outscored 9-0 in consecutive shutout losses, is tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division, three points behind the idle Washington Capitals. The Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout on Thursday.
"Price made some timely saves," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "Even when it was 3-0, we make it 3-1, we might get a push, but he made some timely saves. That's what great goaltenders do."

Thomas Greiss allowed four goals on 22 shots and was replaced after Weal's goal made it 4-0 at 8:19 of the second period. Robin Lehner, who was replaced by Greiss after allowing five goals in a 5-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, made 12 saves in relief.
"You look at the last six periods, we've been badly outplayed," Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey said. "… I think we've all got to find a little more juice."
Armia scored his first NHL power-play goal with seven seconds remaining in the first to make it 1-0. He one-timed a pass from Weal for his 11th goal, Montreal's first power-play goal in five games, and third in the past 18.

Weber made it 2-0 at 1:03 of the second with his 13th goal on a slap shot from the right side.
Price made a save with the tip of his left pad on Jordan Eberle before Drouin scored his 18th goal, his first in 18 games since Feb. 7, at 6:00 to make it 3-0.
"It was an important time in the game and we obviously responded really well with a big goal afterwards," Price said.
Drouin, who assisted on Armia's goal, had no points in 16 of his previous 17 games, including the past nine since he had four assists Feb. 26.
"It's definitely a relief," Drouin said. "It's something you want but it's not something I thought about."

They said it

"My concern is we've just got to regroup and go on. I mean, during the season you have some flat spots. We're playing good teams, we're playing desperate teams. You know, I think we're .500 in our last seven or eight games so we've just got to battle through it right now. It's a tough time to win hockey games now because you have teams that are on the fringe that are all in, and you need to find a way to just be patient and battle. You know, right now we're not patient and things are ending up in the back of our net." -- Islanders coach Barry Trotz
"He's always the number one guy that can turn the momentum of the game and give the boys confidence. Even when we break down a little bit he's always there, and that's huge." -- Canadiens forward Max Domi on goalie Carey Price

Need to know

Price is two shutouts behind Ken Dryden (46) for third all-time for the Canadiens. They trail only George Hainsworth (75) and Jacques Plante (58). … Armia's goal was his first in nine games since he had a hat trick against the New York Rangers on March 1.

What's next

Islanders: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSP, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Canadiens:Host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, SNE, TVAS, MSG-B, NHL.TV)