The Canadiens have been winning, but besides a victory over the Detroit Red Wings early in the season, it’s been all nail-biters.

That finally changed on Saturday night at the Bell Centre, where the offence broke out for six goals in a 6-2 win over the Utah Mammoth. It’s only the third win of the season decided by more than one goal.

As of the final siren, Cole Caufield had taken over the lead in league goal scoring with 12. Oliver Kapanen added a goal and an assist, as did Alex Newhook, who scored arguably the nicest goal of his Habs career.

Sam Montembeault overcame another shaky start where he allowed a goal on the first shot to stop the final 25 of 26. Jeers on Tuesday turned into cheers on Saturday from the Bell Centre faithful as the swagger returned to his game. The Habs were outshot 27-23 despite the lopsided score.

Kailer Yamamoto beat his man streaking up the ice and potted home the rebound to give Utah a 1-0 lead.

Kapanen took the goal scoring lead among rookies with his sixth, from a slick pass by Ivan Demidov. 1-1 after the first period.

The Mammoth outshot Montreal 15-7 in the second period, but still found themselves down a goal after 40 minutes. Lawson Crouse briefly gave his club a 2-1 lead.

Only 42 seconds later, Caufield scored his first of two to tie up the game 2-2.

Then Newhook gave his team a 3-2 lead with a highlight reel solo effort to beat the Utah defender and goalie Karel Vejmelka.

The Habs scored three unanswered goals in the third. The first came from Caufield again, who knew he had slipped one under Vejmelka even though the officials needed extra visual confirmation.

Nick Suzuki’s 12-game point scoring streak came to an end on Thursday against the Devils, but he started anew on Saturday with the 5-2 insurance marker.

Kirby Dach continued his strong play of late with his fourth goal in three games. 6-2 Habs final.

After a pair of overtime losses, head coach Martin St. Louis was able to finally smile this week with his team up four goals late.

Another relieved Hab was Montembeault, who persevered through a rough start to the season and was able to deliver the win on Saturday. Even though he heard the boos against the Flyers on Tuesday, he credited the fans for their support on Saturday.

According to Hockey Stat Cards, it was a strong night for the top two lines. Ditto the top defensive pairing of Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson. They got an assist apiece.

Thanks to the Liveblog commenters for joining in on the conversation on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube channel. After putting up with so many tense overtime battles and one-goal games, they appreciated the offensive explosion in the third period. Even though they won by more than a field goal, the Canadiens didn’t play a dominant 60-minutes.

Here’s what the commenters had to say:

3. “Suzuki deserves the Olympics for sure.” — Marc Taillefer 2. “To those who beLITTLE Cole Caufield for the last 2 seasons can shove it.” — Rick Woods 1. “Look at the point getters age for the habs on most nights………the future is bright.” — Blue Fro {“_id”:””,”type”:”raw_html”,”shortcode_tag”:”related_links”,”shortcode”:”[related_links \/]”,”content”:”

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