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Quick hits: Habs, Price get a little revenge vs. Rangers

Carey Price,

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price makes a save against the Colorado Avalanche during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014 in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

AP

There are 11 games on the schedule, so to keep you up to date on the action, it seems wise to put the results in one spot.

First, PHT posts on some of the individual results:

Sabres embarrass Sharks 2-1; Marc-Edouard Vlasic isn’t too worried

Bruins bump Jonathan Bernier out, leave Leafs soul-searching following 4-1 loss

Islanders win track meet against the Dallas Stars 7-5

The Blues beat the Blackhawks and left Dan Carcillo limping

Penguins blank Predators

Wild chase Nabokov, blast the Lightning 7-2

OK, that takes care of three of Saturday’s contests, but there are plenty of important ones that we’ll cover here.

Canadiens 3, Rangers 1

Are the Montreal Canadiens the best team in the East? It’s way too early to say, but they got a little revenge against the team that beat them in the 2014 Eastern Conference finals, topping the Rangers thanks in large part to Carey Price’s strong play. /Cues “What if Price didn’t get injured?” talk ...

Price is on quite the streak lately, by the way:

The Canadiens are 7-1-0 even though there have been sloppy moments.

(Chris Kreider had a quiet evening, in case you’re wondering.)

Flyers 4, Red Wings 2

The Detroit Red Wings fired 37 shots on goal to Philly’s 17, but Ray Emery stole one for the Flyers. Could Emery find himself stealing some starts from Steve Mason as the season goes along? That’s a discussion for another day.

Flyers head coach Craig Berube admits it wasn’t the greatest performance ... but he’ll take it:

Devils 3, Senators 2 (OT)

New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer illustrates how important this win was:

Naturally, Jaromir Jagr was the one to score the overtime-winner:

Coyotes 2, Panthers 1 (OT)

Roberto Luongo played very well in net, making 39 saves, but Florida was unable to provide him enough goal support. Bobby Lou’s likely hoping that such a common recap blurb from his original tour with the Panthers doesn’t remain a trend this time around; so far, that’s not looking too promising.

Justin Hodgman took quite a journeyman’s path to his first NHL game, yet it only took him that long to score his first career goal:

Oliver Ekman-Larsson ended up winning the game in OT (to Luongo’s chagrin):

Capitals 3, Flames 1

This is probably the type of win the Washington Capitals envisioned when they hired Barry Trotz.

Things didn’t go well for Alex Ovechkin - he didn’t get a point and broke two sticks on opportunities late in the third period alone - yet the Capitals were able to grind out a solid win.

Nicklas Backstrom was fantastic, scoring the insurance goal and nearly collecting another one before being thwarted by a game Karri Ramo.

Fittingly, a player who once played under Trotz with Nashville enjoyed arguably the best night, as Joel Ward scored two of Washington’s three goals.

One more stat that would probably make Trotz smile: the Capitals didn’t allow an even-strength goal tonight. Overall, Braden Holtby made 20 out of 21 saves to build back some confidence, too.

All in all, it’s a win by the Trotz blueprint. Washington hopes to see many more.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins