The San Jose Sharks snapped a 12-game losing streak by defeating the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Thursday.

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 2 vs San Jose Sharks 3 | FINAL

Canadiens Lineup

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
11 Brendan Gallagher - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard - 91 Sean Monahan - 56 Jesse Ylonen
55 Michael Pezzetta - 13 Mitchell Stephens - 40 Joel Armia

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Johnathan Kovacevic, Jake Allen, Emil Heineman
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Alex Newhook (lower body), Tanner Pearson (upper body), Christian Dvorak (upper body)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y2R0ZzDKEQ[/embed]

Game Report

The San Jose Sharks snapped their 12-game losing streak on Thursday with a 3-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens. It was San Jose's eighth consecutive win at the Bell Centre. 

Rafael Harvey-Pinard returned to the lineup after being sidelined with a lower body injury since November 16th. He finished the night with one shot on goal in 13:57 and drew one penalty. Emil Heineman was scratched to make room for number 49 and was sent to Laval at the conclusion of the game. 

The Sharks got on board with two goals in the first period following defensive errors by the Canadiens. First, Jayden Struble made a rare costly mistake by making a blind pass in the slot where Fabian Zetterlund was waiting for the puck and beat Sam Montembeault from point blank range. The error didn't seem to affect Struble as he looked like himself and delivered a hard hit on William Eklund on his next shift. 

Later in the period, Tomas Hertl drew Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson behind the net and the forward found Luke Kunin in the slot for a goal. Montreal cut the deficit by half on the next shift when Matheson set up Brendan Gallagher for a one-timer in the slot. 

The visitors added to their lead in the second period when Nikita Okhotiuk had plenty of space and time to skate in and squeeze the puck through Montembeault for a goal that the goalie would certainly want back. 

The Canadiens brought it close with 3:34 remaining with the extra attacker on the ice when Josh Anderson redirected Matheson's blast from the blue line. 

After a poor showing against the Philadelphia Flyers the previous night, Martin St. Louis' squad was not able to execute against the 32nd place San Jose Sharks. The Canadiens waited for Montembeault to be pulled with 5:22 remaining to show urgency. 

Game Statistics

Canadiens (17-18-6)
Shots: 35
Face-off %: 47.0
Power play: 0/1
Penalty minutes: 8
Hits: 21
Blocks:14

Sharks (10-29-3)
Shots: 35
Face-off %: 53.0
Power play: 0/3
Penalty minutes: 4
Hits: 37
Blocks: 19

Scoring Summary

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Gallagher (7)
2nd period: --
3rd period: Anderson (7)
OT: --
SO: --

Sharks Scorers
1st period: Kunin (6), Zetterlund (12)
2nd period: Okhotiuk (1)
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (L) 9-6-3
SJS: Blackwood (W) 5-16-2

Canadiens Players of the Game

Mike Matheson - Primary assists on both goals and led the team with 14 shot attempts.

Sean Monahan - Won 71 percent faceoffs, and won all seven faceoffs in the offensive zone.

Jayden Struble - Bounced back with a good performance after a mistake on the first goal. Led the team with four hits.

Video Highlights

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjlS0I0ECOA[/embed]

Post-game Quotes

Mike Matheson

"We weren't good enough. It's as simple as that."

Martin St. Louis

"It's two games that we're lacking execution. We're not sharp like we've been before. We're going to regroup and prepare for Saturday."

Up Next

The Montreal Canadiens will have the day off on Friday. They will be in action again on Saturday as they host the Edmonton Oilers at the Bell Centre.

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