Carrier gets 1st multigoal game, Canadiens hand Canucks 7th straight loss

MONTREAL -- Alexandre Carrier scored twice for his first multigoal NHL game, and the Montreal Canadiens handed the Vancouver Canucks their seventh straight loss with a 6-3 win at Bell Centre on Monday.

The 29-year-old defenseman had one goal in 45 games this season and 14 in 341 NHL games.

Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and two assists, Ivan Demidov had three assists, and Noah Dobson, Mike Matheson and Oliver Kapanen scored for the Canadiens (26-14-6), who are 9-2-2 in their past 13 games. Nick Suzuki and Alexandre Texier each had two assists, and Jakub Dobes made 20 saves.

Montreal will begin a three-game road trip at the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. The Canadiens finished a four-game homestand 3-1-0 after going 4-1-2 on a seven-game road trip.

“Those two points were big for us," Carrier said. "We need them for the standings, obviously, but also to finish on a strong note at home."

Elias Pettersson, Evander Kane and Max Sasson scored for the Canucks (16-24-5), who are 0-5-2 during their losing streak. Nikita Tolopilo made 35 saves in his first game since Dec. 8.

“I think it was such a fast game for him, the pace, that there were a couple there that he might want back,” Vancouver coach Adam Foote said.

The 25-year-old goalie was recalled from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis on Sunday after Thatcher Demko was placed on injured reserve.

“There’s no excuses,” Tolopilo said. “It wasn’t an easy game, but I need to get better. I’d probably like a couple of goals back. I think there were some really good things that I liked about my game, but some things where I want to clean up and get better. A couple of goals, like, I just want to look at again.”

Montreal scored three unanswered goals in the third period to take the lead.

Matheson made it 4-3 just 29 seconds into the third with a wrist shot from between the circles that went in off the right post.

Slafkovsky pushed the lead to 5-3 at 1:07, burying a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

Kapanen then made it 6-3 at 6:05 when he took a cross-ice feed from Demidov and snapped a shot through the pads of Tolopilo from the left circle.

The line of Slafkovsky, Kapanen and Demidov combined for seven points (two goals, five assists), including the rookie Demidov’s second three-point game of the season.

“We pretty much know where we are on the ice,” Slafkovsky said. “We know who wants the puck where, who likes to play in different areas, and it’s been working.”

Pettersson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 11:53 of the first period, tapping in the rebound of Linus Karlsson's shot through Dobes' five-hole in front.

Dobson tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 18:13. Suzuki won the face-off in the right circle back to Dobson, who used Slafkovsky as a screen to beat Tolopilo glove side with a long-distance wrist shot.

Kane put Vancouver back up 2-1 at 1:50 of the second period when he chipped in a rebound over a sprawling Dobes following a shot from Aatu Raty.

Carrier evened it 2-2 at 4:31 with a snap shot from the slot off a feed from Suzuki. The goal was his 100th NHL point.

Carrier scored his second goal just 20 seconds later at 4:51. Slafkovsky skated into the offensive zone down the left side and sent a centering pass from the goal line that found Carrier as he drove to the net.

“It feels great,” Carrier said. “I think it was two big goals during the game to get the lead on great passes by ‘Suzi’ and ‘Slaf,’ and I don’t get to finish a lot, but I did tonight so it was a good feeling.”

Sasson tied it at 3-3 at 9:42. Drew O'Connor skated between Canadiens defensemen Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj and slid a cross-slot pass to Sasson, who put it in off Dobes' glove.

NOTES: Carrier tied Bert Corbeau (20 seconds on Dec. 25, 1919) for the second-fastest two goals by a defenseman in Canadiens history. Larry Robinson ranks first after having scored twice in 19 seconds on March 22, 1980. ... Canucks forward Conor Garland was minus-2 and had one shot on goal in 18:33 of ice time in his return to the lineup. He missed the previous five games with an upper-body injury. ... Vancouver defenseman Zeev Buium was a healthy scratch after playing 13 straight games since being acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 12.