Recap: McTavish Scores Twice in 4-3 Loss to Canadiens

Mason McTavish scored twice and Frank Vatrano tied the game with six minutes to play in regulation, but the Ducks could not overcome an early two-goal deficit tonight at Honda Center, falling 4-3 to the Montreal Canadiens.

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The loss, Anaheim's fourth in a row, dropped the club to 9-10-0 on the season - fifth in the Pacific Division. The Ducks conclude a four-game homestand with their annual Black Friday matinee, set for two days from now against the rival LA Kings at Honda Center.

McTavish led Anaheim offensively with his fourth career three-point performance, including a pair of second-period goals. Frank Vatrano also scored, tying the game at three late in the third period. Tristan Luneau, Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov and Cam Fowler tallied assists. John Gibson made 25 saves.

With McTavish, Carlsson, Mintyukov and Luneau all on the scoresheet, the Ducks became the first NHL team in nearly 12 years to have four players age 20-or-younger record at least one point in the same game. 

Alex Newhook scored twice for the Canadiens, who snapped a four-game losing skid and improved to 8-9-2 on the year. Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson also scored. Sam Montembeault earned the the win in net, turning aside 30-of-33 Anaheim shots, highlighted by a third-period robbery of a Vatrano one-timer off the rush.

Montreal got off to a hot start in the first period, striking twice in the game's opening minutes to take a 2-0 lead before the first TV timeout.

Newhook scored the first, beating Gibson from the slot on an excellent setup feed from Tanner Pearson just seconds after the Ducks had eliminated the night's initial power play opportunity.

The Ducks have now conceded the opening goal in five straight games. Anaheim is 5-2-0 this season when scoring first but just 4-8-0 after trailing 1-0.

Newhook has points in three straight games (3-2=5). Acquired by Montreal this summer for a pair of early draft picks, Newhook co-leads the club in goals and ranks fifth among team leaders in scoring (12 points). 

Guhle, the younger brother of former Ducks defenseman Brendan Guhle, scored on the next shift as the finisher of a perfect backdoor pass by Jesse Ylönen on an odd-man rush.

Anaheim's best chance in the first period came on a late 3-on-2 rush, with Terry finding Killorn on a cross-seam pass, but Montembeault reached across his crease to rob Killorn with a brilliant blocker save.

Instead the Ducks would get on the board in the opening minute of the middle frame, needing only four seconds of power-play time to get back within one as Carlsson delivered a perfect backdoor pass to McTavish on the door step.

McTavish has scored in back-to-back games and leads the Ducks with 20 points this season.

With the primary helper, Carlsson now has five points in his last five games.

Mintyukov registered the secondary assist, moving back into the sole NHL lead for points by rookie defensemen. 

The 2-1 score would be short-lived, as Matheson restored the visitors' two-goal cushion with a wrister from the tops of the circles that beat Gibson over the blocker.

Anaheim would again respond though, pulling back within one again on a remarkable individual effort by Vatrano, who won the race to a loose puck along the right wing wall and held off a Montreal defender just long enough to spring McTavish alone in front. McTavish then had all sorts of time to pick his spot, eventually rifling a wrister over Montembeault's right pad for his second goal of the night.

McTavish has four multi-point games this season and 15 in his 108-game NHL career.

Vatrano's helper was his sixth of the season, and his 18th point. Last season, he set a new career high with 19 assists, and 41 points, in 81 games.

With the chip out of the zone that led to the goal, Luneau earned his first career NHL point - and against his hometown team.

Anaheim nearly tied the game seven minutes into the third period on a 2-on-1 rush for McTavish and Vatrano, but Montembeault responded with yet abother massive stop, this time sliding from right to left to deny Vatrano's one-timer with a flash of the glove.

Vatrano would get another chance at the tying goal a few minutes later and this time he finished the job, lifting a snapshot from the left circle over Montembeault's left shoulder to pull the Ducks even at three.

The goal was Vatrano's team-leading 13th of the season, moving him into a tie for third among NHL leaders. McTavish's assist marked his third point of the night.

The Ducks would have a couple of chances to find the go-ahead goal a few moments later on a 4-on-4 shift, with Luneau getting the best look unchecked from the high slot after two Canadiens defenders fell down behind the net, and those missed opportunities would soon prove costly as Newhook converted a 2-on-1 rush the other way after a few big stops by Montembeault, the difference in Montreal's 4-3 victory.

The Ducks conclude a four-game homestand Friday against Los Angeles.