San Jose, California: Ben Smith scored just hours after being acquired by San Jose in a deadline deal as the Sharks shut out Montreal for the third straight meeting in a 4-0 win over the Canadiens on Monday.
Joe Pavelski, Matt Irwin and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Sharks, who snapped an eight-game home losing streak by beating the top team in the Eastern Conference.
Alex Stalock made 20 saves for his fourth career shutout and first win since January 6 at Minnesota. That performance followed Antti Niemi’s two shutouts against the Canadiens last year, giving San Jose three straight shutouts against a single opponent for the second time in team history.
The Canadiens got off to a bad start on their four-game West Coast trip as they were outplayed from the start against San Jose. Carey Price made 33 saves and snapped his franchise record 10-game road winning streak.
Chicago’s Jonathan Toews had two goals and assisted on Marian Hossa’s score as the Blackhawks rolled past the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 for their third win in four games.
Brandon Saad scored his 20th to reach that mark for the first time in his career and Marcus Kruger also connected for the Blackhawks. Toews increased his total to 21 goals.
Corey Crawford made 27 saves for Chicago and lost his bid for a second straight shutout when Carolina’s John-Michael Liles scored at 4:29 of the third period. Alexander Semin also scored late in the third for the Hurricanes, who snapped a three-game winning streak.
The Texas Rangers downed the NHL-leading Nashville Predators 4-1 after Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard both had two assists.
Marc Staal, Chris Kreider, Dominic Moore and Rick Nash had goals for the Rangers to make it a successful debut for defenceman Keith Yandle, acquired on Sunday from Arizona. Cam Talbot stopped 25 shots in place of injured No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who turned 33 on Monday.
The Rangers moved into a tie with the Islanders atop the Metropolitan Division.
Zuccarello had a big game shortly after the Rangers announced he agreed to a four-year contract extension.
