Montreal captain Nick Suzuki reaches 30 goals for first time, helping Canadiens beat Flyers 4-1
MONTREAL (AP) — Montreal captain Nick Suzuki reached 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career and added an assist to help the Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Thursday night.
Cayden Primeau made 29 saves as Montreal won its third straight in its Bell Centre return after a five-game trip. Jesse Ylonen also scored and Joel Armia and Jake Evans added empty-netters.
Juraj Slafkovsky extended his points streak to a career-high nine games with an assist on Suzuki’s goal. Mike Matheson had three assists.
Primeau had shutouts in his previous two home games and held Philadelphia off the scoresheet until Owen Tippett broke through with 1:01 left.
Philadelphia lost its third consecutive game amid the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Samuel Ersson made 13 saves. He allowed six goals on 27 shots in a 6-5 overtime loss to the New York Rangers last time out.
Suzuki opened the scoring with a power-play goal midway through the first period by knocking home a feed from Slafkovsky at the side of the net.
Ylonen made it 2-0 late in the period, scoring off a rebound of Jayden Struble’s shot.
UP NEXT
Flyers: Host Chicago on Saturday night.
Canadiens: Host Carolina on Saturday night.
DENVER (AP) — Sam Montembeault made 27 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night in coach Martin St. Louis’ return to the team.
Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for the Canadiens, who snapped Colorado’s nine-game win streak. They won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 15-17 and swept the two-game season series from the Avalanche.
“We raise our game against good competition,” Suzuki said. “It really forces guys to be dialed in. If we’re not dialed in they’re going to pick us apart.”
St. Louis was behind the Montreal bench after missing four games to be with his family. His 16-year-old son, Mason, got hurt during a youth hockey game and then suffered complications from the injury and was hospitalized.
The Canadiens went 1-2-1 with assistant Trevor Letowski handling the head-coaching duties.
“We were trying to do the job while he was away and he definitely gave us a bit of energy coming back,” Suzuki said. “He’s been through a lot over the last 10 days and he was excited to come back. Everything’s good at home and he’s happy to be back with the guys.”
Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado to extend his point streak to 19 games. He is the first player in NHL history to have multiple point streaks of 19 or more games in a season, according to the Avalanche. He has at least one point in all 35 home games this season, second all-time behind Wayne Gretzky’s 40-game streak for the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.
MacKinnon’s 123 points are tied with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the NHL lead.
Justus Annunen made 25 saves hours after signing a two-year extension that will keep him under contract with Colorado through the 2025-26 season.
“It’s awesome,” Annunen said. “I want to play here and I got that opportunity so I need to earn my spot here every day.”
MacKinnon scored his 45th goal of the season 43 seconds into the game. Montreal tied it nine seconds later when Suzuki got his 29th.
Armia gave the Canadiens the lead when he jammed the puck inside the left post at 14:53 of the first for his 12th goal of the season, and they were able to hold on for the final two periods.
Leave a Reply