Canadiens top Ducks for seventh victory in nine games

MONTREAL --The Montreal Canadiens won for the seventh time in nine games, 4-1 against the Anaheim Ducks at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Montreal scored three goals in the first period against Anaheim, which has been outscored 27-6 during a five-game losing streak.
"We have some times when we have momentum, we just can't really get through those battles, you know, we can't get over that momentum," Ducks goalie Chad Johnson said. "You can't feel comfortable being uncomfortable. Right now I feel like when we are uncomfortable we just can't get out of it."
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Canadiens highlights]
Carey Price made 24 saves for his sixth straight win for the Canadiens (30-18-6), who are 7-1-1 in the past nine games.
Brendan Gallagher had two goals and an assist, Jonathan Drouin had three assists, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored for a third straight game for the Canadiens, who surpassed their win total from last season (29-40-13).

"I didn't even know that, that's nice, obviously," Gallagher said. "We're not where we want to be at, obviously there's some work to be done. But we put ourselves in a decent position here where we have a chance to compete for a playoff spot, and that's really the goal. It's exciting."
Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks (21-24-9), who have allowed 19 goals in their past three games. Johnson made 28 saves.
"When you're in these situations it's a confidence thing," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "You could see that we were squeezing our sticks, making two passes too many times to exit the zone or to beat their forecheck. And they had a good track through the neutral ice and they stalled us, specifically in the third period."
Gallagher reached 20 goals for the third time with Montreal at 7:11 of the first period. He took a pass from Drouin and made it 1-0 with a wrist shot into the top-right corner from the right side of the slot.

Kotkaniemi became the first 18-year-old to score in three consecutive games for the Canadiens when he made it 2-0 with his ninth goal at 9:36.
"It's always special to do something like that in this kind of organization," said Kotkaniemi, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
Drouin set up Gallagher's second goal, a one-timer from nearly the same spot as his first to make it 3-0 at 16:39.
"He got looks today," Drouin said. "It's not every day you're going to get looks or even get a chance to pass to him, and he buried his chances tonight."
Getzlaf made it 3-1 at 11:27 of the second with his 11th goal on a wraparound.

Phillip Danault got his 10th goal on a backhand at 2:31 of the third for a 4-1 lead after a video review confirmed the puck had crossed the goal line.
"You've just got leave it out there and make sure that everyone is going to take it upon themselves and look yourself in the mirror and see what you can bring to the team to make a difference every night," Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg said. "And we're saying all the right things in here, and no one wants it to look like that out there, and no one wants to lose games.
"But at this point it's just up to each individual to make sure that when they come they're gonna have to bring it all and [then] some at this point. You can't just be here to participate, you've got to make sure you play well."

They said it

"We had a little bit of life after the second but the start of the third period I don't think we had two or three shots before the midway point, and they were doing a good job of bottling us up in the neutral ice in the third." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle
"We've been trying to simplify things to make sure that we get the confidence back. I think confidence isn't just something you can buy in the store and all of a sudden you're feeling on top again. It's something that you have to build, and that way get it back." -- Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg
"It's something you look forward to when you show up to training camp, where you want to be in contention or with the top teams in the League. And we've been doing that so far, but there's 28 games left, it's just a start. We've got to keep building on this and make sure we get 40 (wins), maybe 50, and keep going." -- Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin on Montreal's 30th win

Need to know

Anaheim defenseman Korbinian Holzer left the team for personal reasons prior to the game. He was replaced by Jaycob Megna, who was plus-1 in 14:22 in his season debut. … Kotkaniemi has scored each of his nine goals at home. … Drouin has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past five games.

What's next

Ducks:At the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, KCOP-13, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, TSN3, NHL.TV)