NHL News

Anthony Richard leads Canadiens over Penguins to snap 7-game losing skid

Anthony Richard leads Canadiens over Penguins to snap 7-game losing skid

Anthony Richard scored the winning goal in the third period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-4 on Tuesday night.

Richard scored at 3:05 of the third period. He took a stretch pass from Justin Barron and beat Casey DeSmith to the glove side. Montreal rebounded from an 8-4 home loss against Colorado on Monday and snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Montreal, which won its first game in March, has lost eight of its last 10 games overall.

“I feel like we’ve played some really good hockey, as of late, but we just haven’t gotten rewarded for it,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “It wasn’t perfect, but I think the group needed that kind of result.”

Josh Anderson scored an empty-net goal while the Penguins pressed for the tie. Mike Hoffman scored his 11th while Denis Gurianov, Jesse Ylonen and Joel Edmundson also scored for the Canadiens.

Sam Montembeault made 39 saves.

“Montembeault was probably the difference,” St. Louis said. “He played real well for us.”

Jake Guentzel scored twice and Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins, who play significant back-to-back division games at the New York Rangers on Thursday and Saturday. Pittsburgh, which currently holds a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, has points in eight of its last 10 games.

WATCH l Richard’s game-winning goal helps Canadiens edge Penguins:

Canadiens edge Penguins to end 7-game losing skid

Montreal defeats Pittsburgh 5-4 with Anthony Richard’s game-winning goal in the third period.

“Obviously, we missed an opportunity,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We have a lot of them moving forward that we have to get ready for.”

Tristan Jarry started, but allowed four goals on seven shots. It was the fourth time in five games Jarry allowed four goals and the second time he was pulled. DeSmith stopped 13 shots in relief.

Pittsburgh played the final 16 minutes with four defencemen. Jeff Petry didn’t take a shift in the third period and Jan Rutta left with a lower-body injury after he was hit with a shot.

Montreal had the first five shots of the third period and the only goal until Anderson’s empty netter with 35 seconds to go.

Montreal scores final 4 goals of 1st period

“I thought we worked hard throughout the course of the game, but we didn’t work smart,” Sullivan said. “As a result, some of the looks they got, though they didn’t get many, were high quality.”

Pittsburgh scored twice in the first five minutes for an early 2-0 lead. But the Canadiens jumped ahead…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CBC | NHL News…