Habs held at bay by Lehtonen, Stars
Written by on February 22nd, 2012 in Latest News.
Ryan Garbutt scored his first NHL goal and Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves Tuesday in Montreal as the Dallas Stars shut out of the Canadiens 3-0.
Mike Ribeiro, in his regular season return to Montreal, and Tom Wandell also scored for the Stars (30-26-4).
Carey Price stopped 33 shots for the Canadiens (24-27-10), who have dropped four of their last five after a four-game winning streak.
The Stars took control in the opening period, outshooting the Canadiens 15-6. The shot clock read 9-0 in favour of Dallas before Montreal recorded its first on goal at 8:14.
For a fifth straight game, the Habs saw their opponent strike first when Garbutt, just called up from the minors, snapped a nifty shot from the faceoff circle over a crouched Price.
The Canadiens had plenty of opportunities to even things up in the second period when Dallas was whistled for four consecutive penalties. On a hot streak of late with seven goals in their last 25 chances power-play chances, Montreal failed to score for just the second time in the last seven games.
Ribeiro, who was traded to Dallas in exchange for defenceman Janne Niinimaa on Sept. 30, 2006, place the Stars up 2-0 at 4:32 of the third. Dallas defenceman Trevor Daley found the former Canadien with a cross-crease pass to the left of Price.
Just 37 seconds later, a clearing attempt by the Habs netminder was intercepted and the puck eventually found its way to Wandell in the slot.
