Canadiens ride strong start to knock off Maple Leafs
MONTREAL (AP) Jonathan Drouin scored two goals on breakaways, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Saturday night.
Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki also scored for the Canadiens, who snapped a two-game losing skid. Carey Price made 29 saves.
Jake Muzzin and Andreas Johnsson scored for the Maple Leafs, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back. Backup Michael Hutchinson made 33 saves. Frederik Andersen led Toronto to a 4-1 victory over San Jose on Friday.
The Canadiens broke a 2-2 tie with three goals in the third period.
Armia scored seven seconds into the frame, off a Leafs face-off win, by poking the puck around Muzzin and beating Hutchinson on the blocker side for his team-leading sixth of the year.
Drouin made it 4-2 for Montreal on his second breakaway goal at 7:40 off a giveaway by Tyson Barrie at the blue line.
Suzuki put the game away with his third goal of the season, scoring on a 2-on-1 with Nate Thompson at 11:53.
The teams were playing for the second of four games this season. Montreal also beat Toronto 6-5 in a shootout on Oct. 5.
The Canadiens jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Gallagher put Montreal in front at 7:43 after breaking away from Cody Ceci's loose coverage in front of goal. He cut to the net and scored off Tomas Tatar's backhand pass for his fifth of the season.
Montreal doubled its lead on Drouin's first breakaway goal at 12:34.
For the eighth time this season, the Canadiens conceded a goal in the final minute of a period when Muzzin beat Price with 16 seconds left in the first. It was Toronto's first shot in more than 11 minutes.
The equalizer came 5:52 into the second. With Montreal unable to control a loose puck in front of goal, Johnsson flipped it over Price's pad for his third of the season.
Notes: Max Domi saw his seven-game point streak come to an end. . Hutchinson dropped to 0-3-1 all-time against Montreal. ... Typical of an encounter between the teams, there was bad blood between Domi and Alexander Kerfoot, who traded words, slashes, big hits and even punches throughout the game.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: At Washington on Tuesday.
Canadiens: At Arizona on Wednesday.
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