MTL @ TOR: Lindgren shines in shutout loss to Maple Leafs

TORONTO - Charlie Lindgren didn't pick up a win on Saturday night, but he was still sensational in between the pipes.

The 24-year-old goaltender faced a career-high 49 shots - and made a career-high 45 saves - in the Canadiens' 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre.
It was a performance the Lakeville, MN native has every reason to be proud of, even if the contest didn't ultimately go his way.
"It feels good. The last game in Columbus [on Monday], I wasn't necessarily happy with my effort. I wanted to come back and try to give the guys a good effort and try to battle as hard as I can," said Lindgren. "That's the only guarantee I can have. I'm going to give it everything I've got every single night. That's what I tried to do."

The St. Cloud State University product definitely accomplished that objective, particularly during an extremely busy second period when the Maple Leafs generated 26 shots on goal, but Lindgren was only beaten twice.
"It's probably been since college, I think, that I've gotten that many shots, maybe one or two in the American League. That's a lot of shots," said Lindgren, who admitted to feeling fatigued following the final buzzer. "Toronto did a really good job. They're a really talented team and you saw that."
In head coach Claude Julien's opinion, Lindgren might just have been the only one of his charges who played well against the Canadiens' Original Six rivals.
The veteran bench boss pointed to the second period, in particular, when the Habs were outshot by a 26-9 margin, as the real turning point in the affair.

"The second period was unacceptable in my book. The lack of focus, the lack of effort, and everything else. At one point, you've got to understand that a game is 60 minutes long, not 20 or 40. We played 20 and we just kind of disappointed everybody in the second period," he explained. "It's disappointing because I thought we've been making some good strides, but we took a real step backwards with that second period. We can't accept that kind of an effort."
Brendan Gallagher expressed similar thoughts after the Canadiens suffered their second straight loss, while the Maple Leafs claimed their 12th consecutive victory on home turf.
"Charlie did everything he could to give us a chance to win. The first wasn't terrible. The second was. We were on our heels," mentioned Gallagher. "They controlled the play. We just didn't do enough to play in the other end. It's a little bit disappointing. I think as of late we've been kind of doing all the little things to win, but we got away from that and got the result we deserved."

In short, though, Julien essentially summed up Saturday night's performance in just a single phrase.
"Charlie did his job," he concluded. "But, the guys around him didn't help him much."