WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson each had a goal and two assists, Samuel Montembeault stopped 36 shots to earn his first win since Jan. 17 and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 on Wednesday night.
Rookie Oliver Kapanen, Lane Hutson and Phillip Danault, also scored for the Canadiens, who are 4-0-1 during a five-game points streak and 6-2-1 in their last nine.
Montembeault, who made his first start since Jan. 24, had given up three or more goals in five of his six previous starts.
Kyle Connor scored for the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves.
Winnipeg took an early 1-0 lead when Connor scored his 25th goal on a one-timer during a power play at 6:07 of the first period.
Kapanen, who’s heading to the Olympics for Finland, got his 18th goal 10 minutes later when a rebound went off Jet Cole Perfetti’s stick right to him and he then flipped the puck past a sprawled Hellebuyck.
Montreal went ahead 3-1 at 6:44 of the second after goals 76 seconds apart by Anderson and Hutson.
The Jets missed a chance to pull closer then they hit a post and Montembeault later snagged a close-in shot by Dylan DeMelo. They were also stymied on four shots on goal during a power play early in the third.
Gallagher’s goal came with 3 seconds left on a power play at 10:57 of the third. Danault put the puck into an empty net with 14 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.
Canadiens: Host the New York Islanders on Feb. 26.
Jets: At Vancouver on Feb. 25.
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