Joel Armia will get successful purpose as Canadiens beat Blue Jackets 4-2

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The Canadiens had motive to smile on their flight again to Montreal after Wednesday night time’s recreation in Columbus.

No one would have been smiling greater than Joel Armia.

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Armia scored the successful purpose at 17:03 of the third interval, deflecting in some extent shot from Mike Matheson, and Gustav Lindström added an empty-netter two minutes later because the Canadiens beat the Blue Jackets 4-2 at Nationwide Enviornment.

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Alex Newhook and Cole Caufield additionally scored for the Canadiens, whereas Patrick Laine and Yegor Chinakhov scored for the Blue Jackets.

This was the fifth straight street recreation for the Canadiens, who completed the stretch with a good 3-2-0 file, bettering to 10-10-2 on the season, whereas the Blue Jackets fell to 7-13-4.

The Canadiens referred to as Armia up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket for the second time this season forward of Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Kings in Los Angeles, however the 30-year-old ahead was made a wholesome scratch for that recreation. Armia now has two targets within the seven video games he has performed with the Canadiens, together with 6-3-9 totals in eight video games with the Rocket.

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“It feels nice each time you rating,” Armia informed reporters in Columbus after the sport. “Simply going to take all the nice issues away from this recreation and transfer ahead.”

Armia, enjoying on the third line with Sean Monahan and Josh Anderson, completed the sport with three pictures in 16:26 of ice time and had a plus-2 differential.

The Canadiens can be again in motion Thursday when the Florida Panthers go to the Bell Centre (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). It’s the primary of 4 straight dwelling video games and the Canadiens will play seven of their subsequent eight video games on the Bell Centre, the place they’ve a 5-6-0 file. Goalie Cayden Primeau flew again to Montreal early on Wednesday and can begin in opposition to the Panthers after Samuel Montembeault made 26 saves in Columbus because the Canadiens outshot the Blue Jackets 31-28.

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The Canadiens seem like utilizing a three-goalie rotation now with Montembeault, Primeau and Jake Allen. Montembeault improved his file to 5-3-1 with a 2.73 goals-against common and a .910 save proportion.

The Canadiens obtained off to a sloppy begin defensively in opposition to the Blue Jackets and had been outshot 13-9 within the first interval, which included two horrible giveaways by Caufield within the defensive zone. After the sport, Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis famous that his workforce had just one turnover within the first 10-12 minutes of the sport, however then had six or seven extra earlier than the primary interval ended.

The rating was nonetheless 0-0 after the primary interval and the Canadiens obtained off to a gradual begin within the second interval with Laine opening the scoring on the 3:40 mark when the groups had been enjoying four-on-four. The Canadiens obtained caught on a foul line change and Laine blew previous defencemen Matheson and Justin Barron earlier than slipping the puck previous Montembeault.

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Newhook evened the rating at 7:36 of the second interval lower than 15 seconds after he had hit the submit. Chinakhov put the Blue Jackets up 2-1 at 9:47 of the second interval after a failed clearing try within the defensive zone by defenceman Kaiden Guhle. Caufield tied the rating once more at 14:08 of the second interval, banging in a rebound of a Christian Dvorak shot after Juraj Slafkovsky had made a pleasant breakout go from the defensive zone.

Newhook and Caufield are actually tied for the workforce lead with seven targets every. Caufield has 2-1-3 totals within the final three video games and has 7-11-18 totals this season, tying him with Nick Suzuki (6-12-18) for the workforce lead in factors. Matheson had two assists in opposition to the Blue Jackets and is third in workforce scoring with 5-12-17 totals. Slafkovsky has 1-4-5 totals within the final seven video games.

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St. Louis had reward for Armia after the sport.

“Military’s been a professional,” the coach informed reporters in Columbus. “He’s gone right down to Laval and performed effectively down there and produced. Tonight he will get a possibility and performs a great recreation.”

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Whereas the Canadiens return dwelling with a successful file on this five-game street stretch, they’ve a 5-8-0 file in November earlier than wrapping up the month in opposition to the Panthers. Two of their 5 wins this month had been in time beyond regulation and one was in a shootout.

“It’s such a tough league,” St. Louis informed reporters in Columbus. “You’ll be able to’t count on we’re going to get it achieved with 4, 5, six, 10 guys. It’s a gaggle choice and we’d like everyone on board and we had that tonight. … I’m happy with the outcome tonight, the (street) journey as effectively.

“The final recreation of a visit isn’t all the time simple,” the coach added. “As nice as we really feel tonight about the best way we performed, we obtained to begin throughout tomorrow.”

scowan@postmedia.com

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