NHL: After nearly a year without scoring, Weber pots pair

MONTREAL— Shea Weber and Artturi Lehkonen each scored twice as the Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers 5-2 to snap a five-game losing skid on Saturday night.

Tomas Tatar also scored for the Canadiens (12-9-5) in their first home win since Nov. 10. Carey Price stopped 20 shots.

Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Strome scored for the Rangers (13-12-2), who have dropped four of their past five games. Backup goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves on 42 shots while Mika Zibanejad had two assists.

Both teams were playing the first game of a back-to-back weekend. Montreal hosts the San Jose Sharks on Sunday while the Rangers take on the Winnipeg Jets in New York.

The Canadiens, who outshot New York 42-22, have won four straight games against the Rangers at the Bell Centre.

Montreal went up 2-0 in the first period thanks to Weber’s first two goals of the season in just his second game back from injury.

The new Canadiens captain scored 3:53 into the contest with a one-timer from the blue line that Georgiev never even saw — Weber’s first goal since Dec. 5, 2017 after missing 73 games due to injury.

The six-foot-four defenceman netted his second of the game on a great play by Tatar. Lying on the ice with his back to the play after being tripped at the blue line, Tatar spotted a streaking Weber and fed him with a backhand pass for the partial break. Weber went glove side, top shelf, with eight seconds remaining in the first period.

Lehkonen doubled Montreal’s lead — and his goal tally for the season — with two quick ones early in the second.

Speedy forward Paul Byron was back in the lineup for Montreal after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury.