Joel Armia scored a short-handed goal late in the third period, giving the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
With the Sharks on a power play at 15:56 of the third period, Armia and Jake Evans broke out on a two-on-one rush. Armia’s goal marked his second short-handed goal in as many games.
This win ended the Canadiens’ five-game winless streak (0-4-1).
Alex Newhook contributed a goal and an assist, while Kirby Dach added two assists. Brendan Gallagher and Cole Caufield each scored on the power play, with Montreal finishing 2-for-4 on the night.
Sam Montembeault made 27 saves on 30 shots, including a spectacular glove save on Macklin Celebrini just over a minute before Armia’s game-winner.
Alexandar Georgiev stopped 16 of 20 shots for the Sharks, who have now lost 8 of their last 9 games (1-8-0).
Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli each scored a goal and recorded an assist on the power play, as San Jose also went 2-for-4 with the man advantage. Collin Graf scored his first career NHL goal for the Sharks.
San Jose got on the board first with a beautiful power-play goal 5:52 into the first period. Celebrini finished off a great passing play with a shot at the side of the net.
Montreal responded just 52 seconds into the second period, with Caufield scoring on a one-timer set up by some sharp passing on the power play.
Newhook gave Montreal the lead with another one-timer at 4:53 of the second period after a strong forecheck kept the puck in San Jose’s end.
The Sharks tied the game less than 10 minutes later with Graf’s first NHL goal, a wrist shot from the circle.
Both teams exchanged power-play goals in the third period, starting with Gallagher’s tip-in at 2:40. Midway through the period, Celebrini fed Toffoli for a breakaway goal to even things up before Armia’s game-winning goal.
