Sam Montembeault made 30 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Cole Caufield, Zack Bolduc and Juraj Slafkovsky each had a goal and an assist and Jake Evans also scored for Montreal, which won its third straight game.
Mark Stone scored a goal and Akira Schmid stopped 15 of 18 shots for Vegas, which suffered its fourth straight loss and ninth in last 13 games.
Montreal took a 1-0 lead at the 14:30 mark of the first period with a 6-on-5 goal during a lengthy delayed penalty possession. Caufield, who had fired a wrist off the left post earlier in the period, carried the puck into the Vegas zone and left it for Slafkovsky by the boards in the left corner. Slafkovsky then zipped a pass across past the sticks of two Vegas defenders to a wide-open Bolduc by the right side of the crease and Bolduc fired a shot under Schmid’s right arm.
Caufield made it 2-0 early in the second period with his team-leading 14th goal, ripping a sharp-angle shot from below the left circle over Schmid’s right shoulder. It marked the third straight game that the Golden Knights fell behind 2-0.
Caufield had a chance to extend the lead to three goals later in the period on a 2-on-0 break with Nick Suzuki but his wrist shot caromed off the crossbar.
Evans made it 3-0 early in the third period with a breakaway goal, snapping a wrist shot over Schmid’s left pad and inside the right post.
Stone, alone in front of the crease, broke up the shutout with 4:44 remaining, taking a pass from Mitch Marner and shoving in a forehand shot to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Golden Knights pulled Schmid for an extra attacker with 3:09 left and Slafkovsky sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:57 remaining.
