It apparently wasn’t so significant of a milestone for Andrew Cogliano that his Anaheim Duck teammates felt the need to show up. They fell 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday on the road in a game that was as lopsided as the score indicated.
Passing Jay Bouwmeester for the fifth-longest ironman streak in history with his 738th straight game, Cogliano celebrated with a goal. That was before Montreal’s shorthanded lineup took over, ironically on the team’s struggling power play.
Andrew Cogliano is playing his 738th consecutive game tonight, surpassing Jay
Bouwmeester for the fifth-longest such streak in NHL history. pic.twitter.com/8vQOC64nbW— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 21, 2016
First Period
Cogliano scored his ninth of the season unassisted off a faceoff five minutes in. However, it wasn’t long before Max Pacioretty and Jeff Petry swung the momentum in Montreal’s favor with golden scoring chances on the same shift.
Both ended up finding redemption for their failed opportunities later on, while the latter found his way onto the scoresheet with an assist as well late in the first. On a two-on-one rush, Petry opted to shoot and Paul Byron buried the rebound to knot the game at one apiece entering the first intermission.
Second Period
The Habs took over completely in the second, with Anaheim’s shot total in the first (seven) surpassing the amount they earned over the final two periods (six).
Montreal meanwhile earned 34 shots overall. Their hard work paid off midway through the frame on the power play. Off a faceoff just outside Anaheim’s zone, Artturi Lehkonen won a battle and got the puck to Byron, who dished it in close on goalie Jonathan Bernier to Plekanec for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal.
Third Period
Montreal added its first insurance marker of the game when a failed clearing attempt made its way around the boards and onto the stick of Petry, who made no mistake. He later added a third point when he assisted on Pacioretty’s 13th. The Habs captain chose wisely by keeping the puck on a two-on-one rush with Brendan Gallagher to earn Montreal’s second power-play goal of the game.
The 2-for-6 night on the man advantage was a stark turnaround for the Habs, who had gone 1 for 19 since losing Alex Galchenyuk to injury. Petry also picked up the slack for Montreal’s leading scorer on the blue line, Andrei Markov, who left Saturday’s win over the Washington Capitals with a lower-body injury.
The Habs were also without the services of Andrew Shaw, David Desharnais and Greg Pateryn. Chris Terry, who was called up to help deal with the injury troubles, scored his first as a Hab with under a minute to go to bring an end to the scoring and a generally unpleasant night for the Ducks. Playing their second in two nights (3-2 over the Toronto Maple Leafs), they just didn’t have it.
Case in point: Despite allowing a single goal, Habs goalie Carey Price was almost an afterthought, which goes to show just how dangerous Montreal can be even if they don’t rely solely on their goaltending. Since Price received no support against the San Jose Sharks and got pulled after allowing four goals, the Habs have allowed just 34 shots in two games.
Scoring Summary
FIRST PERIOD
ANA – Andrew Cogliano (9) unassisted
MTL – Paul Byron (11) assisted by Jeff Petry and Torrey Mitchell
SECOND PERIOD
MTL – Tomas Plekanec (3) assisted by Paul Byron and Artturi Lehkonen
THIRD PERIOD
MTL – Jeff Petry (7) unassisted
MTL – Max Pacioretty (13) assisted by Jeff Petry
MTL – Chris Terry (1) assisted by Michael McCarron and Nathan Beaulieu
THW Three Stars
First: Jeff Petry (1 goal, 2 assists)
Second: Paul Byron (1 goal, 1 assist)
Third: Andrew Cogliano (1 goal)
NEXT UP
Montreal Canadiens vs. Minnesota Wild
Bell Centre – 7:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 22
Broadcast channels – SN360, RDS, FS-N, FS-WI
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