Canadiens 43 shots dominate Islanders 5-1

Glen Metropolit and Tomas Plekanec each had two assists, and Jarolav Halak made 21 saves as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the New York Islanders 5-1.

It was the Canadiens first regulation win this season , and first in 17 games dating to last season, as they improved their record to 4-5.

Montreal opened the scoring when Jaroslav Spacek foiled the Islanders attempt to clear their zone, feeding Scott Gomez at 7:55 of the first period.

Marc-Andre Bergeron scored his first goal, on the power play, in his second game with the Canadiens with a monstrous blast from the point past Martin Biron to close out the period.

“It felt great,” Bergeron said. “I had my family and friends (here). To get that goal for the Canadiens, with the reaction of the crowd, let's just say it was a little louder than I'm used to. I’m very proud to be with the Montreal Canadiens.”

Max Pacioretty scored his first goal since January 2009 at 3:34 of the second period, to give the Canadiens a 3-0 lead.

“I feel like I got the monkey off my back,” Pacioretty said. “Metro told me (in practice) that you got to want the puck. Hopefully I can build off that and I feel like I’m ready to go now.”

Montreal outshot the Islanders 30-12 in the first two periods and New York had 23 giveaways in the game.

Halak, perfect through two periods,  made his sole mistake, early in the third, when he misplayed the puck behind his net, allowing Josh Bailey to score into the empty net.

“I don’t like shutouts,” Halak joked. “Every time you lose a shutout it’s not easy, but the point is to win the game.

“It was a mistake that he (Halak) made,” said Canadiens coach Jacques Martin. “The key is he recovered and we won the game.”

Martin would not tip his hat as to whether Halak would get a third straight start on Saturday night.

Mike Cammalleri replied with a second power play goal and Maxime Lapierre later added a fifth goal for the Canadiens.

“We had to really get on them and make them work.” said Cammalleri. “It was nice to get five goals in instead of two goals.”

The Canadiens finished with 43 shots on the night.

“The effort has been there the last two games,” Scott Gomez said. “it’s good to get it at home.”

Metropolit had missed the last six games with a rib injury with the Canadiens. In that span, Montreal went 1-5.

He was a dominant factor in he faceoff circle going 5 for 7, and showed no signs of wear in eighteen minutes of ice time earning the games first star.

“I don't know if I've ever had that before, maybe once when I was with Washington,” said Metropolit who also saw time on the second power play wave.

“It was good to be back there. I'm just trying to make room on the ice in front of the net.”

For Islanders center John Tavares, his second visit to the Bell Centre was not as pleasant as his first when he was the first overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

New York’s star prospect went minus 2, and had no shots on goal.

“It was probably my worst game of the year,” he said after the Islanders got their first win of the season the night before.

“It’s tough after getting over the hump last night.”

The two teams will meet again, in Montreal, on Monday.

Three Stars: 1. Metropolit 2. Pacioretty 3. Bergeron

Official Game Summary and Recap from NHL.com

Game Photos: Montreal Gazette/HabsInsideOut

Habs Injuries: And now, there are three…

The Canadiens called up Yannick Weber to fill the team’s defensive injury woes.

The Montreal Canadiens infirmary added a pair of players after Saturday’s game vs. Buffalo.

First the team lost blueliner Ryan O’Byrne for up to six weeks with a knee sprain. The Canadiens then lost center Glen Metropolit with an upper body injury.

Metropolit is to be reevaluated in Calgary, and may have a rib injury.

The injury became apparent with his five straight losses in the faceoff circle in the first period of Saturday’s game.

The pair join Andrei Markov, who is out for four months with a lacerated tendon.

The Canadiens made one expected roster move Sunday by calling up defenceman Yannick Weber from Hamilton.

Coach Jacques Martin maintained after the loss of Markov, that the remaining defenders would have to work as a unit or step up in the all-star’s absence.

After O’Byrne’s injury, the remaining five players continued to do just that. With the exception of Hal Gill (19:40) the Canadiens defensive core all played over 20 minutes.

With Weber’s arrival Tuesday, that will add some puck moving skill, and a solid point shot that was lost with Markov going down.

If the team can continue to keep the opponents shooting outside the box, that should keep Carey Price happy. Price said Saturday that the high shot totals don’t bother him provided he has good vision. The Habs goalie praised the work done Saturday to do just that.

Kyle Chipchura will need to show what he’s made of now

Depending on the seriousness of Metropolit’s injury, it may now fall on Kyle Chipchura to show that he is the prospect that people have been told he is.

Recovered from shoulder surgery ,many feel that this will be a make-or-break season for the young forward in the Canadiens organization.

When I interviewed Habs’ assistant coach Kirk Muller over the summer, he even acknowledged that this should be Chipchura’s year.

It will be a true test on the remaining three games of this road swing, for the Canadiens, to see how the team handles these injuries.

Two of the three opponents (Calgary and Vancouver) are expected to be top contenders in the Western Conference and should give a better idea of how the team can perform over the coming weeks.

Different paths for the Metropolit brothers

Great job by Dennis Kane for sharing a story (originally printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer) on Habs’ centre Glen Metropolit.

It centres on the hardships that he, and his brother, Troy endured growing up in the Cabbagetown area of Toronto.

While Glen made his way to the NHL, Troy is currently serving a 14-year prison term in Bath, Ontario and, at the time of the article was awaiting trial for the murder of an inmate.

It’s truly a moving story that a peers into the life of the Canadiens forward.