Canadiens send Kraken to fifth consecutive defeat

MONTREAL — Sean Monahan scored twice and Josh Anderson broke a 27-game goal drought dating to last season with an empty-netter that sealed the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Monday night.

With Montreal up 3-2, and Seattle pressing, Anderson floated the puck from his own zone and into the Kraken’s net with 32 seconds left.

Tanner Pearson also had a goal for Montreal (11-11-3), which won its first game at home since Nov. 11.

Samuel Montembeault made 31 saves in his first start since signing a three-year, $9.45 million contract extension with the Canadiens. He looked sharp early and robbed Kraken forward Alex Wennberg on two separate occasions with left-pad saves on the doorstep.

Vince Dunn, with a goal and an assist, and Jared McCann scored for Seattle (8-12-6), which lost its fifth straight game. Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 shots.

Monahan opened the scoring at 4:03 of the first period after Jake Evans forced a turnover. Pearson doubled Montreal’s lead 3:12 into the second period by burying a rebound.

Monahan scored his second on the power play to make it 3-0 at 6:58 of the second.

Seattle cut into the deficit as McCann fired a wrist shot past Montembeault at 14:05 of the second for his team-leading 12th goal.

Dunn brought the Kraken to within one with a slap shot over Montembeault’s right shoulder on the power play 4:49 into the third, but Seattle heads home from a four-game road trip without a point.

“It’s really unacceptable to come out with nothing,” Dunn said. “We see how well we can play so maybe we (can look at that) and understand how close we are, but being close doesn’t cut it, it doesn’t win you games, it needs to be complete and it’s definitely not even close to that right now.”

Veteran forward Brendan Gallagher played in his 700th NHL game, all with the Canadiens. Montreal drafted Gallagher in the fifth round, 147th overall, in the 2010 draft. He has 207 goals and 198 assists and is the 27th player to reach the 700-game milestone in franchise history.

UP NEXT

Kraken kick off a six-game homestand against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

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CANADIENS 4, KRAKEN 2

Seattle 0 1 1—2

Montreal 1 2 1—4

First Period—1, Montreal, Monahan 7 (Evans, Anderson), 4:03.

Second Period—2, Montreal, Pearson 4 (Dvorak, Gallagher), 3:12. 3, Montreal, Monahan 8 (Caufield, Suzuki), 6:58 (pp). 4, Seattle, McCann 12 (Larsson, Dunn), 14:05.

Third Period—5, Seattle, Dunn 4 (Tolvanen, Beniers), 4:49 (pp). 6, Montreal, Anderson 1, 19:28.

Shots on Goal—Seattle 13-7-13—33. Montreal 10-10-10—30.

Power-play opportunities—Seattle 1 of 2; Montreal 1 of 1.

Goalies—Seattle, Grubauer 5-7-1 (30 shots-26 saves). Montreal, Montembeault 5-3-1 (33-31).