Canadiens 6 - 4 Stars
Final
  for this game

Montreal cools down Dallas

Jan 3, 2014 - 6:24 AM Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Lars Eller scored the winner in the third period to help the Montreal Canadiens take down the Dallas Stars, 5-4, on Thursday.

Max Pacioretty had two goals and two assists, while P.K. Subban added a goal and three assists for the Canadiens, who had dropped their previous two coming in. Carey Price gave up four goals on 32 shots.

"That's what we need. We've been struggling scoring goals," said Pacioretty. "We've been struggling trying to put 60 minutes together. We came out slow but we found a way to bounce back after a bad start. Carey [Price] bailed us out early in the game and I think we took it from there."

Tyler Seguin, Valeri Nichushkin, Jamie Benn and Brenden Dillon all scored for the Stars, who had won five of seven and had registered at least a point in those seven games. Kari Lehtonen allowed five goals on 27 shots in the loss.

"You know it wasn't very good. Sloppy, execution wasn't very good at times," said Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff. "And then we found a way to battle back and then we didn't defend very well."

Montreal held a 3-2 lead going into the third and made it a two-goal game at 3:30 on the power play as Brendan Gallagher backhanded in a rebound from the left side.

Dallas, though, struck for a pair of goals separated by 47 seconds, with the first goal coming at 7:42 on the power play when Seguin muscled past a pair of defenders and blasted a shot from the top of the right circle for his 21st of the year.

Moments later, a one-timer from the top of the right circle by Dillon tied the game at 4-4, but Montreal took the lead back at the 10:39 mark.

Eller skated down to the low right circle and slammed on the breaks to get the defender out of position. Inching a littler closer, he used a quick shot to find the back of the net for a 5-4 lead.

Pacioretty sealed the win with an empty-netter with just over a minute to play.

Benn scored at 6:12 of the first period, but Pacioretty notched his first of the game at the 11-minute mark.

Just 1:35 into the second period, David Desharnais gave the Canadiens a lead, but Nichushkin was awarded a penalty shot at 5:23 when he was tripped up by Josh Gorges on a breakaway.

Nichushkin skated down the middle on the free chance and beat Price to the right side to tie the game.

Montreal, though, took the lead back just over a minute later as Subban buried a shot from the right side for his seventh of the season.

Game Notes

Montreal hosts Ottawa on Saturday ... Dallas hosts Detroit on Saturday ... Dallas was 1-for-3 on the power play while Montreal was 1-for-4 ... Montreal has won two straight and four of six over Dallas.






Related News