Carey Price made 38 saves for his second shutout in his last three starts and Alex Semin scored his first goal as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Max Pacioretty and Torrey Mitchell also scored for the Canadiens, who stretched their team-record winning streak to start the season to seven games.
It broke the Blues' (5-2-0) four-game winning streak.
Price, the league's most valuable player and top goaltender last season, has allowed only six goals in six starts. It was the 36th shutout of his career.
He posted a 25-save shutout against the New York Rangers on Oct. 15.
His save of the night was a spectacular glove effort early in the second frame on Vladimir Tarasenko.
>>Blackhawks Lose Duncan Keith
Duncan Keith, the reigning Conn Smythe winner, however, will be on the shelf for the next four to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right meniscus according to the team.
Keith had appeared in all six of Chicago's games this season. He notched two assists and has averaged over 24 minutes of ice time a night.
The team's workhorse defenseman is going to be relied on heavily this season due to the relative shallowness of Chicago's defense. The team is also without veteran Michal Rozsival who continues progressing in recovery from an injury sustained last postseason.
Over his career, the Blackhawks' alternate captain has logged an average of 25-plus minutes of ice time. Additionally, Keith has been an incredibly durable defenseman for the club. He has never missed more than eight games in a season until now.
Keith has averaged nearly four more minutes of ice time than his next closest teammate so far this year, which means Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson should see their workloads increase significantly. Trevor Daley, who has had some early struggles early on, will also probably see his ice time feature more high-leverage situations. Young defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk, David Rundblad and Viktor Svedberg are all going to have to step up in some way as well if Chicago has to weather this storm without Keith.
