The Montreal Canadiens fired over 40 shots for the first time this season in a 6-3 drubbing of the Vancouver Canucks at the Bell Centre on Monday.
Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov had three points apiece in the win, while Alexandre Carrier scored twice in 20 seconds.
Nick Suzuki and Alexandre Texier each added two assists.
Jakub Dobes started in goal and is now 4-0-1 in his last five starts. He also received 13 goals from the Habs’ offence in his last two games. He made 20 saves on Monday.
The Canucks came in having lost their last six, but there was a glimmer of hope early when they took a 1-0 lead from Elias Pettersson after netminder Nikita Tolopilo weathered an early onslaught. It was Vancouver’s first lead since Dec. 30.
The Canadiens let the Canucks hang around until the third period, but they never seemed to sweat it. Noah Dobson scored four seconds into the game’s first power play to tie it up 1-1.
Just 1:50 into the second period, Evander Kane scored his seventh of the season off a rebound in front to regain the lead for Vancouver.
Then Carrier scored his two goals of the night. The first gave the defenceman his 100th career point.
The Canucks continued to fight, specifically feasting on the third defensive pairing of Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj and the Phillip Danault-Brendan Gallagher-Zachary Bolduc line. Xhekaj was on the ice for all three goals against. Max Sasson drew his club even 3-3 just before the game’s midpoint.
The Canadiens decided enough was enough early in the third period. Mike Matheson gave the home team a 4-3 lead just 29 seconds in. That was followed by a wicked shot by Slafkovsky 38 seconds later to give them a two-goal advantage.
The second line teamed up one more time, with Slafkovsky feeding Demidov, who hit Oliver Kapanen with the one-timer pass. 6-3 is how the game ended.
The Canadiens didn’t play their best hockey, but against a dreadful Canucks team reeling from the departure of Quinn Hughes, they didn’t have to.
After playing some of his best hockey of late, a bump in the road for Xhekaj. He may sit when the Habs play the second of a back-to-back in Washington on Tuesday.
Speaking of Tuesday in Washington, the goalie carousel will continue with Samuel Montembeault expected to start against the Capitals. Dobes won his last two starts, which were 11 days apart, and got a lot of help from the offence in the process. But the team is winning with him between the pipes. Jacob Fowler probably wishes he had that kind of run support, after being on the losing end of a shutout twice in three games.
The Habs play 11 times between now and Feb. 4, when they break for the Olympics. Doesn’t seem like there’s a major need to resolve the goaltending triangle until then.
Note for Liveblog readers: The Liveblog will return Tuesday on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube channel.
Related