Monahan scores twice, Canadiens hand Kraken 5th straight loss

MONTREAL -- Sean Monahan scored twice, and the Montreal Canadiens held on for a 4-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Bell Centre on Monday.

Monahan, Josh Anderson and Tanner Pearson each ended lengthy goal droughts, and Sam Montembeault made 31 saves for Montreal (11-11-3), which took a 3-0 lead for just the second time this season.

“We wanted to make it hard to play in our rink, and I think tonight we did that,” Monahan said. “And we started off that way, and when you do that sometimes, you can kill the other team as well.”

Vince Dunn had a goal and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves for Seattle (8-12-6), which lost its fifth straight and ended a four-game road trip 0-3-1.

“It’s four losses, so we probably shouldn’t take too much away from it,” Dunn said. “It’s really unacceptable to come out with nothing.”

Monahan ended a 14-game goal drought and put the Canadiens up 1-0 at 4:03 of the first period with his first goal since Nov 2. Monahan redirected Anderson’s pass into an open net from the left post after Jake Evans forced a turnover by Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak.

Pearson made it 2-0 at 3:12 of the second with his first goal since Oct. 23. Pearson had gone 19 games without a goal before he slammed in a rebound of Christian Dvorak’s shot from the left side.

Monahan scored his second of the game on a power play at 6:58 to push it to 3-0 with a shot past Grubauer from the slot off Nick Suzuki’s pass from behind the goal line.

“The way we’ve been playing, it hasn’t been that big of a lead in a while, and we’re learning as we go,” Evans said. “We know there’s certain ways, things we can’t do, and we did that a few times in the game, and it cost us. We’re just improving as we go on and learning how to win, and hopefully make it a little easier next time.”

Jared McCann cut it to 3-1 at 14:05 with his team-leading 12th goal on a shot past Montembeault’s glove from the right side.

“We’re chasing the game,” McCann said. “Obviously, our goalie makes some huge saves in the first or it would have been 5-0 after the first period. You know it’s frustrating. We’re all frustrated right now because we know we are better.”

Dunn drew the Kraken to within 3-2 at 4:49 of the third with a slap shot from the point just under the crossbar on a power play.

Anderson scored his first goal of the season, flipping the puck the length of the ice into an empty net with 32 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.

“The guys are happy for ‘Andy,’” Monahan said. “He’s been through some tough times to start here. I mean, you get a win on home ice, he gets his first, and yeah, it feels good.”

NOTES: Seattle has yet to make a three-goal comeback since joining the NHL in 2021-22. … It was the first time Montreal scored the first three goals of a game since Oct. 14 (a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks). … Dunn factored on both of the Kraken’s goals for his 24th multipoint game with the Kraken, third behind McCann (32) and Jordan Eberle (25). … Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher played his 700th NHL game.