Habs break out in 3rd to eliminate Stars from contention
MONTREAL -- A third-period outburst lifted the Montreal Canadiens to 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen and Alexander Radulov scored for the Canadiens (43-24-9).
Curtis McKenzie scored for Dallas, which saw its four-game point-streak snapped.
Carey Price stopped 27 shots for the Canadiens. Kari Lehtonen made 32 saves for the Stars (31-34-11), who were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with the loss.
The Stars held the edge early in this one, recording the first six shots on goal before Montreal notched its first.
Their fourth opened the scoring at 1:47 of the first period. Canadiens center Andrew Shaw tried to poke Nathan Beaulieu's clearing attempt out of the zone but the puck landed in front of McKenzie, whose shot from the slot hit the glass behind the net before the Stars winger picked up the rebound at the side of the net and poked it in.
Montreal finally recorded its first shot of the night five minutes in and started to find its legs shortly thereafter. The home side dominated the rest of the frame, outshooting Dallas 14-7 in the period but unable to get anything by Lehtonen.
Pacioretty snapped a six-game goal-less drought to tie the game at 15:49 of the second period. After Radulov drew four Stars players to him, the puck bounced out to Phillip Danault, who fed Pacioretty, and the Canadiens captain tossed a backhander from the side of the net that trickled through Lehtonen.
Gallagher gave Montreal its first lead of the night at 3:21 of the third period when he stopped after coming into the zone with speed before sniping a shot upstairs, short side on the Dallas netminder.
Lehkonen put the Canadiens ahead by a pair at 13:02 when he took an Andrei Markov pass and fired from outside the right circle.
With the assist, Markov moved into a tie with Guy Lapointe for second all-time in career points among Habs defensemen, with 572.
Radulov added to the pile with his first goal since Feb. 27, beating Lehtonen with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
NOTES: Montreal scratched C/W Brian Flynn, RW Michael McCarron, LW Andreas Martinsen, D Brandon Davidson and D Nikita Nesterov. ... Canadiens G Zachary Fucale served as Carey Price's backup after G Al Montoya, who was supposed to get the start, was scratched with an undisclosed injury. ... Dallas scratched RW Jiri Hudler and D Jamie Oleksiak. ... Stars LW Jamie Benn and Canadiens D Jordie Benn, brothers, faced off as opponents for the first time at any level of hockey. ... It marked Dallas D Greg Pateryn's first game against Montreal since being traded to the Stars on Feb. 27 for Jordie Benn.