The new everyday Canadiens goalie, Carey Price, saved 31 of 32 attempted shots, helping his team to a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Carey’s now 14-9-3 on the season, with a .969 save percentage.

“We played really good hockey in the first half of the season,” said Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau. “But ever since Christmas, we’ve been playing really great hockey.”

Goals tonight came from Mark Streit and Andrei Kostitsyn. The lone New Jersey goal came from Brian Gionta, the goal was his 18th of the season. Devs veteran goalie Martin Brodeur blocked 23 of 25 attempted shots. After the game Martin acknowledged the team’s frustration.

“They didn’t give us much, we barely had three or four really good scoring chances on Price,” Brodeur said. “We’re just having problems scoring goals and creating chances of late, and it was the same thing tonight.

This victory puts the Canadiens in first place in the Northeast standings, with a 36-21-9 record. This victory gives the club momentum going into March, Montreal had 8 wins and 6 losses in February. Center Saku Koivu is confident that the younger players on the Canadiens will help push them into a Playoffs run.

“It is a pleasant surprise for us and for a lot of people,” Koivu said. “There were some question marks for this team because of the young players coming from the minors, but those guys have done an excellent job coming in here and wanting a big role, not being happy just to be in the lineup.”