Kirby Dach scored twice while Lane Hutson, who leads all rookies in points, recorded his first three-assist game to pace the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Mike Matheson both netted one goal and one assist, while Patrik Laine scored a goal to reach the 400-point plateau. Sam Montembeault made 22 saves for the Canadiens, winners of 10 of their last 13 games (10-2-1).
Josh Doan, Nick Bjugstad and Logan Cooley scored for Utah, which has only one win in five games (1-3-1) and is on a 2-7-2 skid. Karel Vejmelka stopped 21 shots.
With the score tied at 3, Caufield scored at 6:33 of the third by deflecting Hutson’s shot for his sixth goal in seven games.
Dach’s second of the game provided the insurance marker with 3:45 remaining for a Montreal club that earned the win by dominating the final two periods.
Amidst a tale of two games in the opening two periods, Utah twice staked a lead only for the Canadiens to draw even.
Doan’s power-play goal, a rebound from the doorstep, opened the scoring at the 2:11 mark, but Matheson replied 67 seconds later while on a partial breakaway. It was Montreal’s only shot over the first 18 minutes of the clash.
Bjugstad gave Utah another lead with 54 seconds remaining in the first period by banking a sharp-angled shot off Montembeault’s back and into the cage to snap a 22-game goal drought.
However, Laine evened the score midway through the second period with a one-timer from the left faceoff dot for his 10th goal in 15 games this season.
After outshooting Montreal 14-3 in the first period, Utah needed more than 14 minutes to record a second-period shot.
Dach put Montreal ahead for the first time with 86 seconds remaining in the middle frame when he deposited a backhand shot. But Cooley tied the game at 3 at 3:07 of the third when he converted a loose puck from the right circle.
–Field Level Media
