NYI@MTL: Vengeance on ice

MONTREAL - It may have seemed close at first glance, but the Canadiens built off some key contributions at opportune moments to run away with the game on Thursday at the Bell Centre.

To start, there was the penalty kill starring, among others, Nate Thompson, who capped off an excellent turn on special teams with a pair of shorthanded shots on Thomas Greiss while Jeff Petry was in the box.
"That was one good shift, one of my better P.K. shifts I've have had. I wish would have scored on that one," said Thompson, who was sent out for 2:15 of penalty-kill duty. "But I thought everyone did a great job, especially Pricey [Carey Price]: he was big back there, as usual. We wanted to make sure we got up ice and we disrupted their breakout. I thought we did a really good job of that tonight."

After the Canadiens successfully killed off a subsequent penalty to Shea Weber, they fed off the momentum of a job well done and the corresponding kudos from the home crowd en route to a momentous power play goal from a Finnish forward.
That would be Joel Armia, of course, who scored the first power play goal of his career in his 229th NHL game after Jordan Weal waited for just the right time to fake out an Islanders defender and feed it to Armia in the slot.
"I never really thought about it," recounted Armia. "But when I scored, then I realized it was the first one. It was a good feeling."

The good feelings would keep on going in a productive second period. After Weber made it 2-0 with a trademark rocket of a shot, Jonathan Drouin completed a tic-tac-toe play so sweet it might put the entire candy bar industry out of business.

"It's for sure relieving, but the way we're playing, it's wins that we need," shared Drouin, referring to the fact he snapped a nine-game pointless drought on Thursday. "It doesn't matter if I have five points or not, the important thing is to win."
Weal would tip in Jordie Benn's shot from the point to make it 4-0 just over two minutes later - and win, the Canadiens did after holding off New York in an ever-more-physical third period of play.

For head coach Claude Julien, his troops' work while down a man in the opening frame was the big difference maker.
"I found our penalty kill on the two penalties at the start of the game did a really good job," he explained. "It took the wind out of their sails. We came back with energy and our power play scored a big goal."
That renewed sense of energy and confidence means that the Habs' late-season slide is looking like a thing of the past, and they know what they need to do to keep the good times rolling.
"We just need to keep playing the way we did the last couple of games, not think too much. Hopefully, we can keep this confidence going here," relayed Weber, who scored in consecutive games for the first time this season. "We've got a long way to go, a lot of work left to do, but all we can do is focus on the next game and doing the same thing we did tonight."

One man who'd definitely like to continue playing the way he has of late is Price, who put in a brilliant 28-save performance to move within two shutouts of third all-time on the Canadiens with the 44th of his career.
The veteran netminder believes that the Canadiens, who moved back into playoff position after the Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the Edmonton Oilers, can do a lot of damage if they bottle up what they did on Thursday and unleash it on their remaining opponents.
"We're playing as a pretty good group. We're using our assets like we should be," outlined Price, who earned his fourth shutout of the season. "If we keep doing that, I'm pretty sure we're going to be successful for the rest of the season. We're a tough team to play against when we play like that."

The Habs practice at the Bell Centre on Friday and face the Buffalo Sabres at home on Saturday night.