Stars blow out Canadiens for 4th straight win

MONTREAL (AP) — Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, Casey DeSmith stopped 24 shots for his first shutout of the season, and the Dallas Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-0 on Thursday night.

Wyatt Johnston, Esa Lindell, Tyler Seguin, Colin Blackwell, and Alexander Petrovic also scored for Dallas, which won its fourth straight game. Radek Faksa had three assists, and Mikko Rantanen added two.

DeSmith had 14 saves in the first period, three in the second, and seven in the third to get his 13th career shutout.

Jakub Dobes allowed five goals on 13 shots through two periods, and Sam Montembeault had four saves in the third for the Canadiens. Montreal has lost two straight four in its last five.

The Stars won their seventh straight visit to the Bell Centre, dating back to Oct. 30, 2018.

The Canadiens controlled much of the first period, but Johnston opened the scoring on the power play with 5:39 remaining, finishing a tick-tack-toe play with Roope Hintz and Rantanen.

The Stars then scored even-strength goals from Lindell, Seguin, and two from Robertson in the second period to grab a 5-0 lead.

Robertson scored twice in 99 seconds, beating Dobes to the backhand before burying a wrist shot through a crowd as some fans headed for the exits with 3:11 remaining in the middle period.

Canadiens forward Alex Newhook exited with an apparent right leg injury after crashing feet-first into the end boards after he was tripped up by Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin early in the second period.

Shortly after Newhook’s injury, Robertson sent Seguin on a breakaway with a heads-up breakout pass behind the Canadiens’ defensemen to make it 3-0 at 7:10.

Up next

Stars: Host Philadelphia on Saturday.

Canadiens: Host Boston on Saturday.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL