MTL@VAN: Game Recap

VANCOUVER - The Canadiens closed out their first road trip of the season with a 5-2 victory over the Canucks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.

The Habs were minus the services of forward Joel Armia, who was sidelined with a concussion.
Veteran Corey Perry took Armia's spot in the lineup on a line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Tyler Toffoli.
It was Perry's first game of the season and his first in a Canadiens uniform.

The Canadiens opened the scoring for a second consecutive game. It was Nick Suzuki who found the back of the net, redirecting a pass from defenseman Brett Kulak beyond goaltender Braden Holtby at the 9:06 mark of the first period.
Suzuki extended his point streak to six games on the play. It's the longest streak of the former first-round selection's career.
Left-winger Jonathan Drouin collected the secondary helper on Suzuki's second goal of the year.

Claude Julien's squad headed to the locker room with a 1-0 advantage after 20 minutes, and led 10-5 in the shots department.
Perry celebrated his Habs debut in style by lighting the lamp midway through the second period.
The 16-year NHL veteran capitalized on a 2-on-1 to slide the puck five-hole on Holtby.

Ben Chiarot and Toffoli collected the assists on Perry's first goal with Montreal.
For his part, goaltender Carey Price made the highlight-reel with a superb stop on forward Jake Virtanen in the middle frame.

Price stopped eight shots in the period, while Holtby faced seven shots.
The Canadiens led 2-0 after 40 minutes.
Elias Pettersson got Vancouver on the board just 3:50 into the third period, redirecting a Jordie Benn point shot past Price for his first goal of the season.
The Canucks tied things up less than three minutes later. Rookie Nils Hoglander jumped on a loose puck to level the scoreline.
The Habs answered right back three minutes after that. Brendan Gallagher beat Holtby with a perfectly placed shot to put Montreal up 3-2.

Tomas Tatar picked up the lone assist on Gallagher's second goal of the season.
Then, Drouin put the Canadiens up by a pair again when he beat Holtby on a breakaway by going five-hole on the backhand.

Defenseman Joel Edmundson capped the scoring with an empty-netter for Montreal. It was his first goal with the Habs.
Price finished the contest with 23 saves to register the 350th win of his NHL career with Montreal. He became the first goaltender in franchise history to accomplish the feat.
The Canadiens will be back in action on Thursday night when they play host to the Calgary Flames in the home opener at the Bell Centre.