The Montreal Canadiens didn't need the legends of yesteryear to spur them on Monday night, overcoming a slow start en route to a 3-1 home victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Mike Cammalleri's late second-period goal held up as the winner for Montreal (14-14-2), with Andrei Kostitsyn and Marc-Andre Bergeron also scoring.
Canadiens defenceman Paul Mara, one of just three constants on an injury-riddled blue-line squad this year, left the game after the first period after getting hit by Riley Cote of the Flyers. Cote and Georges Laraque would drop the gloves during the game.
It was a game that featured just 28 shots between the teams, with Carey Price finishing with 14 saves.
"It was definitely different because I'm not used to that, but it was nice to be able to just sit back and watch us play," said Price, who had faced an average of 34.8 shots per game in his previous nine starts.
"In the second period I actually started to get cold, I had to bundle up. You can build up a sweat from the anxiety or whatever, and then it just sits on you."
The goaltender did his best work in the second, making nine saves, including one on Flyers captain Mike Richards on a power play.
Cammalleri scored a hat trick in Montreal's last game, a 5-1 pasting of Boston at Bell Centre that followed a gala centennial celebration of the franchise with dozens of past team greats on hand.
That result followed dreadful outings against Toronto and Buffalo, and the Habs have clearly recovered from that season lowlight.
Cammalleri's 16th featured a tremendous play by Maxim Lapierre, who dragged the puck and outwaited a sliding Flyers defender, feeding his linemate in the slot to beat Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher.
Cammalleri credited Lapierre with the easy convert.
"I think it would have been harder for me to miss the net from there than to hit the net," Cammalleri said.
Badly outscored
Philadelphia (13-13-1) has lost both games played under new coach Peter Laviolette, who took over on Friday from John Stevens. The Flyers have been outscored 19-5 during their five-game losing streak.
"I think we're overthinking our offensive game right now," said Flyers winger Ian Laperriere. "We want to win, we don't want to get on a roll like this. We're here to win games, so when you struggle it's painful and nobody goes home happy. You think about it 24/7."
The Flyers started strongly, with Gatineau, Que., native Daniel Briere scoring his 11th on a wrister while falling down at the 7:28 mark.
Max Pacioretty took Montreal's only official shot on net in the first.
"I guess we played possum a little bit, but you don't want to do that," said Cammalleri. "I don't think we were great tonight, and I don't think they'd be happy with their game either.
"So I think we'll just stick with the positive — we won the game."
It took nearly a full period for the Canadiens to get the equalizer, with Kostitsyn's third set up by Tomas Plekanec and Roman Hamrlik.
Those two players also figured in on Bergeron's power-play marker midway through the third, with the defenceman wiring a shot from the left faceoff circle past Boucher.
Montreal went into shutdown mode in the period, allowing just two shots in a game that featured just 28 total between the two clubs.
The Canadiens won't have time to rest on their recent laurels, playing in Ottawa on Tuesday night.
With files from The Canadian Press
