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Return from tough trip, beat Stars 4-2
CANADIENS 4, STARS 2
The odds were stacked in the Dallas Stars’ favour heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens were coming off a 5-2 loss in Columbus on Monday night that wrapped up a 12day, six-game road trip, while the Stars — who are still in the playoff hunt — had the day off Monday in Montreal. This was also Alexander Radulov’s first game back in Montreal since leaving the Canadiens as a free agent last summer.
But there’s a reason why they play the games, and the Canadiens showed that by beating the Stars 4-2.
Artturi Lehkonen scored twice for the Canadiens, while Brendan Gallagher and Nikita Scherbak added singles. Radek Faksa and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars, while Radulov was limited to an assist.
Antti Niemi made 36 saves in goal to improve his record with the Canadiens to 5-2-4, including 3-0-3 in his last six starts.
Stars strike first: Faksa opened the scoring at 11:48 of the first period when he deflected a point shot by former Canadiens defenceman Greg Pateryn past Niemi. Lehkonen tied it up 1-1 when he took a nice pass from Alex Galchenyuk and beat goalie Kari Lehtonen with a quick, short-side shot at 16:31.
Power play clicks: The Habs took a 3-1 lead with two power-play goals in the second period by Lehkonen at 8:41 and Gallagher at 9:16. Jonathan Drouin made nice passes to set up both goals. Benn cut the Canadiens’ lead to 3-2 with a powerplay goal at the 18:20 mark.
Shaw injured: Scherbak scored the only goal of the third period with a beautiful move on a power-play breakaway at the 9:26 mark. There was a scary moment before that as Andrew Shaw caught Pateryn with his head down and they collided helmet-to-helmet. Shaw, who suffered two concussions last season, was badly dazed.
Weber out six months: Canadiens defenceman Shea Weber, who hasn’t played since Dec. 16, had surgery Tuesday to repair tendons in his left foot and his recovery is expected to take six months.
What’s next? The Canadiens are back in action on Thursday when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690).