Canadiens hold off Oilers
EDMONTON — Josh Anderson scored twice as the Montreal Canadiens survived a late Edmonton flurry to defeat the Oilers 4-3 on Wednesday night.
Tyler Toffoli and Artturi Lehkonen had the other goals for Montreal (20-15-9). Jake Allen made 22 saves as the Canadiens picked up just their third win in the last nine games to move eight points clear of the Calgary Flames for the North Division’s fourth and final playoff spot. Jeff Petry and Tomas Tatar had two assists each.
Connor McDavid, with a goal and two assists, Ryan NugentHopkins and Jesse Puljujarvi replied for Edmonton (27-16-2), which got 27 stops from Mike Smith. The Oilers, who beat Montreal 4-1 on Monday and had won eight straight at home, missed a chance to leapfrog the Winnipeg Jets for second in the standings.
The Canadiens were minus No. 1 goalie Carey Price (concussion) after he got bumped up high by Edmonton’s Alex Chiasson in Monday’s first period. The former Hart and Vezina trophy will be out at least a week.
The Oilers, meanwhile, got a boost with the return of NugentHopkins after the forward missed four contests with an upper-body ailment.
McDavid tied the game 1-1 with his 25th goal of the season when the NHL’s scoring leader took a stretch pass from Caleb Jones before moving in alone and beating Allen upstairs at 3:09 of the second period.