The Canadiens snapped their five-game losing streak in style with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada at the Bell Centre.

Florian Xhekaj made his NHL debut and was impactful alongside with older brother Arber. As a pair they collected seven hits, while Florian dropped the gloves with Dakota Mermis in the third period. If you came looking for the fight, here it is:

Florian was a goal away from a Gordie Howe hat trick: he tallied an assist to go along with seven penalty minutes in 9:48 of ice-time. He also had a hit in his first shift.

The goaltending carousel has been especially volatile of late, but Jakub Dobes was a relatively calming presence between the pipes with a much-needed 24-save performance.

A lot of the usual suspects contributed on offence in the early going. Lane Hutson scored the first goal at 12:11 of the first, assisted by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

The defence contributed on offence only 1:22 later with Noah Dobson scoring his second of the season. Mike Matheson and Ivan Demidov drew assists. It was 2-0 after the first period.

At 4:09 of the second period, Dobson lit the lamp again to make it 3-0. Demidov got his second assist of the night and Juraj Slafkovsky got his lone point on what was a comeback performance for him following Thursday’s drubbing vs. the Capitals.

Still in the second period, Xhekaj got his first career point setting up Josh Anderson’s fourth of the season. Anderson snuck a shot just above Joseph Woll’s shoulder. That was the end of Woll’s night, but it was a mercy pull from Leafs coach Craig Berube. Not his fault the Habs outshot the Leafs 17-6 in the second period.

Replacement goalie Dennis Hildeby only saw three shots the rest of the way, and the Canadiens allowed the Leafs to get within striking distance. Oliver Ekman-Larsson ended Dobes’ shutout bid with 2:41 left in the second to make it 4-1. Dobes tried to push John Tavares from around his crease, and it might’ve been his undoing.

The Leafs pulled to within two goals with just over five minutes left in the third period. William Nylander scored his 10th of the season on the power play with traffic in front to make the Bell Centre faithful sweat a little more.

Anderson scored his second in an empty net to secure the 5-2 win for the Habs. That wasn’t the end of the night, though, as Arber and Dakota Joshua got into a skirmish as time expired.

The Leafs were without a number of regulars, including Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, but after losing seven of their previous eight, the Canadiens will take any win they can get. This victory was especially important considering they’ve got a painful trio of games coming up on U.S. Thanksgiving week out west in Utah, Vegas and Colorado.

Hopefully, the jolt of having a second Xhekaj in the lineup will carry over against these difficult Western Conference opponents. With both goalies struggling to find their footing at the moment, coach Martin St Louis ought to heed the advice of the Liveblog commenters and ride Dobes until he gives the club a reason to return to the floundering Samuel Montembeault.

That being said, the Habs are off until Wednesday, so the vibes could be completely different next game day. There could also be a new player in the lineup: during the second intermission on Hockey Night in Canada, insider Elliotte Friedman said Montreal could be in running to sign forward Alexandre Texier from the St. Louis Blues. A rare French (from France) player in the league, Texier could provide some extra offence and allow Jared Davidson to go back to Laval, where he’s better suited.

Florian can stay, though, based on his impact card from Hockey Stat Cards:

And here’s what the Liveblog commenters on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube channel had to say about the Canadiens finally breaking their slump:

3. “When Slaf plays with Suzi/Cole … Slaf plays the boards and does the dirty work. With Kap and Demi … Demi and Slaf carry the play.” — Slgreidanus 2. “Great 60mins from the habs a lot less mistakes, the leafs are just a mess habs handled them easy without Newhook, Dach and Guhle.” — SillySundin 1. “Dobes next game. It better happen.” — Marc Taillefer