Blue Jackets Beat Canadiens 10-0: Stats, Highlights, Twitter Reaction

The Columbus Blue Jackets made history with their 10-0 shutout victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday. 

Per ESPN Stats & Info, this is the NHL's first shutout win by at least 10 goals since the 1995-96 season. Per Hockey-Reference.com, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost two games during the 1995-96 season by 10-0 scores. 

Also from ESPN Stats & Info, the 10-0 loss ties the worst shutout defeat in Canadiens history:

Making this defeat more astounding is the Canadiens entered play Friday as the NHL's only team without a regulation loss. They were 9-0-1 through 10 games and only allowed 14 goals during that span. 

The Blue Jackets tweeted out the time stamps for each of the 10 goals they scored:

The second period is when the bulk of Columbus' damage was done. The Blue Jackets scored five goals in those 20 minutes, including three in a span of 3:27 midway through the period. 

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun offered a humorous line about what the Blue Jackets were doing to the Canadiens:

It has been a rough run for the Blue Jackets since entering the NHL before the 2000-01 season. They have made just two playoff appearances, most recently in 2014, and have never won a division title. 

While most of the focus will be on the 10 goals Columbus scored, the team's public relations group on Twitter did throw some love toward goalie Sergei Bobrovsky:

The Canadiens were literally left speechless on Twitter after the game was over:

The NHL on NBC was also unable to come up with the proper words to sum up the defeat, though it at least was able to sum things up with a GIF:

Surprisingly, the Canadiens didn't make a change at goalie during the game. Al Montoya took on all 40 shots the Blue Jackets hit at him, but he had no way to stop the bleeding once the goals started pouring into the net. 

Starting goalie Carey Price was coming off a 42-save shutout on Wednesday against Vancouver, so presumably head coach Michel Therrien didn't want to overextend his star early in the season. 

This wasn't necessarily all Montoya's fault. Josh Anderson's goal to put Columbus up 8-0 was just a brilliant piece of hockey technique, per the NHL on Twitter:

Dave Lozo of Vice Sports noted another famous goalie may try to make a comeback after seeing this score:

At 51 years old, Patrick Roy may not be able to play up to the standards that made him a Hall of Famer anymore, but even he could sit in the net without giving up 10 goals in 60 minutes. 

While this is an embarrassing night for the Canadiens, it was just one of those rare games when nothing went right. They have the luxury of getting right back on the ice Saturday night at home against the Philadelphia Flyers. 

The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, have now won three straight games and should feel confident moving forward after manhandling the NHL's best team in such unique fashion. There's still a lot of season to be played, but this could be the first step on a trip to the playoffs for Columbus.

Postgame Reaction

Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien did not try to spin this game in any sort of direction, opting to take a page out of Bill Belichick's playbook, per All Habs Hockey Magazine:

Per Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette, Therrien said it was ""very difficult" to keep Montoya in the game when the goalie just didn't have it working. 

Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty echoed the sentiment of his head coach regarding the goalie situation. 

"Tonight we left Monty out to dry and that's what's frustrating," Pacioretty said, per Cowan.

Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher seemed to believe that something like this result was coming based on how the team had played recently. 

"I don't think you're going forget one like that," Gallagher said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "We got taught a lesson here tonight. We had it coming. Last game we were sloppy, we got away with it. Tonight we didn't."

Blue Jackets winger Nick Foligno discussed what it's like to be on both sides of the equation when everything goes right for one team and wrong for the other team, per the AP: 

"

You've been on the other side where everything is not going right. It just seemed to be the case tonight where we were just getting every bounce. But we were earning it too. I'm not going to take away from our game, either. We did a lot of good things. But I've never been up by 10 in my entire career.

"

Sometimes all the bounces go your way. There's no sense questioning it since the odds of it happening again are slim. Columbus can just take the win, while Montreal only has to stomach the loss for a short period of time.