I missed the second half of the game because I watched the UFC show on Fox/Facebook. It was nice to see the Habs score a second road victory out west. This one was clearly another defensive struggle and Peter Budaj was up to the task with 25 saves (.962 save percentage). It's nice to see him not embarrass the team whenever they give Price a break.
David Desharnais, Erik Cole and Max Pacioretty continue to make a very potent line. They have been creating more chances than anyone else on the team since being put together. All three do a great job digging pucks along the boards to prolong possessions in the offensive zone which is key when it comes to tiring out the opposition's defence to score and/or draw penalties. Cole's stats are not pretty for the most part but he is doing a great job playing the unsung hero role of going to the net hard and coming back to help the defenders. This line provided both goals.
Scott Gomez was back in the lineup and only played 12 minutes. That's about where he should be given his production and effort dating back to last season. Let him work his way back up to the scoring lines and hopefully he will work harder this time.
I am not sure why the team continues to use Tomas Plekanec on the point for the power play. The team is not producing goals and they continuously get burned defensively. Granted Plekanec was not on the ice when the Preds scored their shorthanded marker (which BTW basically clinches my H2H win for the week but that's another story) but this is a theme that should not be repeating itself. Plekanec should be playing center and should be taking those face-offs, not Brian Gionta.
Mike Cammalleri returned and led the team with four shots.
In his last three games, PK Subban has two assists and is plus-4.
Josh Gorges had another assist and finished plus-2. Make that eight points and plus-9 in 16 games.