The Montreal Canadiens will aim to win three games in a row for the fourth time this season on Thursday when they host the San Jose Sharks.
The Canadiens won three consecutive games on two occasions in December and once in January. Their current run, however, comes on the heels of a dismal stretch in which they lost eight of nine games (1-7-1).
Montreal’s lone win during that run was a 4-3 victory over the Sharks in San Jose on Feb. 4. Joel Armia scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period and Sam Montembeault made 27 saves to keep the Sharks at bay.
Montembeault turned aside all 20 shots he faced on Tuesday to record his fourth shutout of the season and fifth of his career in the Canadiens’ 4-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
“It wasn’t the most exciting game of the year, but we played a solid and simple game,” said Montembeault, whose four shutouts are the most by a Canadiens goaltender in a single season since Carey Price registered four in 2019-20.
“When everybody’s on board, everybody plays the way we want to play, we can compete with every team.”
Captain Nick Suzuki and fellow forward Patrik Laine each collected a goal and two assists to send Montreal to its second straight victory.
“I think we’ve played some pretty solid hockey,” Laine said. “Two wins right away is huge for us. Every game’s a big night. I’ve gotten lucky a couple of times now. I don’t really care about the goals. They’ll come eventually when you work hard. It’s good to get a couple of goals every now and then. Get some confidence.”
The Sharks’ confidence — what there was of it — likely has taken a hit with the struggling team having lost six in a row (0-4-2) and 12 of its past 13 games (1-10-2).
San Jose had NHL-best Winnipeg on the ropes before Josh Morrissey scored the tying goal with 26 seconds left in regulation and Mark Scheifele netted the winner 1:33 into overtime of a 2-1 decision for the Jets on Monday.
“For sure you want to win this, (26) seconds or however long (it was) to get the win, but it’s hockey and you never know what’s going to happen,” Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek said. “I think the guys play really well, and then I try to do my best to hold it, too, so I think it was a great game by us.”
William Eklund scored the lone goal for San Jose to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists). He had an assist in the previous meeting with Montreal.
Prized rookie Macklin Celebrini and former Canadien Tyler Toffoli each scored and set up a goal in that game against Montreal. Toffoli, who leads the Sharks in goals with 21, has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Celebrini leads all NHL rookies with 18 goals. His 42 points are one shy of Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson for the most among NHL rookies despite playing 11 fewer games.
–Field Level Media
