Canadiens snap 3-game slide
MONTREAL — Charles Hudon might not have scored the game-winning goal, but his assist in overtime stole the show.
Hudon made a highlight-reel pass to Tomas Plekanec in the extra frame as the Montreal Canadiens beat the visiting New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday to snap a three-game losing skid.
“From the start of the game, he [coach Claude Julien] asked us to win the battles along the boards,” said Hudon, who has 13 points this season. “I saw three guys coming toward me and I knew I couldn’t lose the puck. was pretty sure Plekanec was in the slot, and once he got the puck, I knew the game was over.”
With his side changing, Hudon skated past the blue line into the Devils zone and held the puck along the half wall. The Canadiens rookie was pinned there by New Jersey’s Pavel Zacha and Sami Vatanen but still kept possession.
With Blake Coleman approaching, Hudon managed to get free and poked the puck to a streaking Plekanec, who beat Cory Schneider five-hole at 1:52 for his first goal in 18 games.
“I was planning to [go five-hole],” said Plekanec of his game-winner.
“I was just hoping it wasn’t going to bounce over my stick when he passed it to me. Hudon made a great play winning that battle. Smart play.”
Schneider stopped 34 of 36 shots in defeat.
Playing its first game after a fourday break, Montreal (14-14-4) showed some signs of rust, falling behind early.
New Jersey (17-9-5) scored on its first shot of the contest at 1:21 of the first period after a defensive breakdown by the home side.
With a delayed penalty coming to Montreal, Stefan Noesen crossed the blue line unchallenged, took a short pass from captain Andy Greene and launched a wrist shot past Carey Price to extend his point streak to five games.
Price, making his ninth straight start, stopped the next 31 shots he faced.
MINNESOTA 2, TORONTO 0
ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Alex Stalock started his extended stretch of action in the Minnesota net with his first NHL shutout in three seasons.
Blanking a Toronto team that tossed him aside less than two years ago made the feat that much sweeter.
Stalock stopped 28 shots for his fifth career shutout, using his first start during Devan Dubnyk’s absence to steer the Wild past the Maple Leafs 2-0 for their fourth straight victory.
Tyler Ennis scored late in the first period and Mikael Granlund added a goal midway through the third period for the Wild, whose first three wins on the streak were all in extra time. They handed the Maple Leafs their first blank slate in more than a year, since a 3-0 loss at Calgary on Nov. 30, 2016.
“You just hope you can kind of keep it rolling. The way this group’s playing right now, just coming to the rink, everybody’s smiling. Everybody’s having fun,” said Stalock, who was acquired by Toronto from San Jose right before the trade deadline in 2016 but was stashed away in the AHL .
NASHVILLE 4, EDMONTON 0
EDMONTON — Juuse Saros made 46 saves for his second career shutout, and Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist, as the Nashville Predators continued their torrid pace of late with a 4-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Pontus Aberg, Kevin Fiala and Roman Josi also scored for the Predators (20-7-4), who have gone 10-1-2 in their last 13 outings and have won their last 10 straight against Edmonton.
SAN JOSE 3, CALGARY 2
CALGARY — Joonas Donskoi scored the winner late in third and had an assist to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames.
Chris Tierney and Timo Meier also had a goal and an assist each to round out the scoring for San Jose (17-10-3). The Sharks play tonight in Vancouver.
Michael Frolik and Johnny Gaudreau scored for Calgary (16-13-3).
The Flames’ Jaromir Jagr (lower body) is back skating but is still day-today. He has missed five games.