Seguin scores twice as the Stars beat the Canadiens

MONTREAL (AP) — Tyler Seguin scored twice, Matt Duchene had two assists and the Dallas Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Saturday.

Thomas Harley also scored as Dallas improved to 8-2-1 in its last 11 games. Mason Marchment added two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 18 saves.

The Stars took two of three on their road trip coming out of the All-Star break.

“We knew that tonight, at the end of a trip, this is either going to be a good trip ... or a poor trip,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “So there was some desperation to our game and I think that showed and in some of the areas that we had success.”

Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for Montreal, which had won two of three. Juraj Slafkovsky also scored, Mike Matheson had two assists and Cole Caufield extended his point streak to a career-high 11 games.

Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault stopped 35 shots in his second straight start.

“We came out really good out of the gate,” Montembeault said. “I think maybe they were better in the second, it’s a veteran team, they work hard.”

Montreal forward Alex Newhook played his first game since Nov. 30. He had been sidelined by a high ankle sprain.

Montreal opened the scoring 38 seconds into the second period. Caufield’s perfectly timed bank pass sent Suzuki on a partial break before the captain rifled a shot over Oettinger’s right shoulder.

Then the Canadiens had a rough stretch.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard ran into teammate Joel Armia in the neutral zone and appeared to injure his right leg in the process.

While Harvey-Pinard struggled to get off the ice, Harley beat Montembeault for his 13th of the season at 3:51. Then Seguin finished off a feed from Duchene in front of the net, making it 2-1 at 4:15.

“We had a game plan. I won’t say what it is, but we knew what was open,” Duchene said. “Every system’s got its weaknesses.”

The Canadiens said Harvey-Pinard departed with a lower-body injury.

Montembeault kept his team in the game as the Stars controlled much of the second. But Seguin made it 3-1 with 2:15 remaining in the period off another Duchene feed in front.

Slafkovsky got one back at 18:37, scoring in a third straight game from a sharp angle for his 10th of the season. The 2022 No. 1 overall draft pick has 16 points in his last 22 games.

“Slaf, to me he’s had a consistent progression,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “We’re really happy with his progression, not surprised, he works really hard at it.”

Montreal pulled Montembeault for an extra attacker late in the third, but it couldn't find the tying score.

The Stars went 0 for 6 on the power play.

“I thought if we could have found a way to get a power-play goal, we probably put them away earlier than letting them hang around to the end like we did,” DeBoer said.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Host the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

Stars: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl