Tatar, Danault each score twice, Canadiens beat Jets 6-2
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Brendan Gallagher and his Montreal Canadiens teammates like their position headed into a break.
Tomas Tatar and Phillip Danault each scored two goals as the Canadiens beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 on Monday night.
Max Domi and Artturi Lehkonen each had a goal and assist for the Canadiens, who won for the sixth time in eight games. Gallagher had a pair of assists.
''It's kind of nice to go into this (Christmas break) feeling good about ourselves,'' Gallagher said. ''I've had the opposite. You know, you lose a few games and it eats at you. You're able to enjoy Christmas a little more this way, and then when you come back you've got another three very, very critical games.''
There were plenty of people in the crowd at the Bell MTS Place wearing Canadiens jerseys.
''Over this road trip, we've had a lot of that,'' said Montreal rookie forward Nick Suzuki, who had a pair of assists. ''People from all over Canada are big Habs fans so it's awesome to have their support on the road.''
Carey Price stopped 27 shots for Montreal (18-13-6), which last lost in Winnipeg on March 5, 2016.
Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine scored for the Jets (21-14-2), who have three straight at home. Mark Scheifele assisted on both goals.
Laurent Brossoit made 42 saves for Winnipeg, which is 2-4-0 in its last six games.
''I'm not saying we're dominating, but their guy made some saves and it's a real good hockey game,'' Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the first period.
''A tough break at 3-1 and then a couple of mistakes and now you're reeling a little bit. It snowballed on us a little bit there in the second.''
Winnipeg scored the game's first goal, but Montreal responded with four straight goals and led 5-2 after the second period.
Laine had a goal erased after an offside coach's challenge nine minutes into the first period.
Connor scored his 15th goal of the season at 11:30 on the power play.
Tatar notched his 14th goal at 15:06 of the first with the man advantage and added his second of the game at even strength 1:32 later, making it 2-1.
Montreal outshot Winnipeg 17-16 in the first period, and 17-6 in the second.
Danault's first goal, at 4:37 of the second, came after Brossoit mishandled the puck. It went to Gallagher, who spun around and shot it, and Danault batted in the rebound.
Danault's 10th goal of the season came seconds after a face-off, stretching the lead to 4-1 at 8:56.
Laine fired a wrist shot past Price to cut the gap to 4-2 at 16:14. A Winnipeg turnover led to Domi's goal off a rebound with 40 seconds left in the second frame.
Domi has three goals and three assists during a four-game point streak.
Laine has five goals in his past five games. Scheifele has racked up eight goals and seven assists in his past 10 games.
A Winnipeg defensive turnover led to Lehkonen's goal at 11:08 of the third. He has a goal and four assists during a three-game run.
UP NEXT
Canadiens: At Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
Jets: Host defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis on Friday.
---
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports