Cole Caufield scored his 44th goal and assisted on Juraj Slafkovsky’s go-ahead goal in the second period for Montreal (39-21-10), which has won three of four, including 7-3 against the New York Islanders on Saturday. Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov each had a goal and an assist.
Caufield, who is second in the NHL to Nathan MacKinnon (46) of the Colorado Avalanche in goals, has seven goals and 12 points during a six-game point streak. His linemates each have seven-game point streaks; Slafkovsky has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during his streak, and Nick Suzuki, who assisted on Caufield’s goal, has 12 points (three goals, nine assists).
Nikolaj Ehlers and Jordan Staal scored and Frederik Andersen made x14 saves for Carolina (45-20-6), which blew an early 2-0 lead and had a three-game winning streak stopped.
Caufield tied it 2-2 at 5:49 of the second period when he put away a rebound of Suzuki’s shot.
Caufield, Montreal’s first 40-goal scorer since Vincent Damphousse in 1993-94, had a career-high five points Saturday, including his third NHL hat trick, his second of the season.
He got his seventh point in two games with an assist when Slafkovsky put the Canadiens up 3-2 at 9:19. Caufield’s deflection of Noah Dobson’s shot from the left point struck Slafkovsky on its way up and past Andersen glove side.
Demidov made it 4-2 when he deked to score the Canadiens’ fourth straight goal on a breakaway at 13:53 of the third period.
Jake Evans shot the puck into an empty net from the left face-off dot in the defensive zone with 1:00 remaining in the third for the 5-2 final.
Carolina outshot Montreal 17-4 in the third, and 43-19 for the game.
Ehlers put Carolina ahead 1-0 at 2:36 of the first period with a power-play goal. His shot from the left half-wall deflected off Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson’s stick and slipped between Dobes and the post stick side.
Jordan Staal scored unassisted at 7:09 to make it 2-0. Jalen Chatfield’s dump-in bounced off Matheson along the boards and was swiped by Montreal forward Oliver Kapanen’s stick to Staal, who was alone in the slot and flipped a shot over Dobes’ left shoulder as he backed into right edge of the face-off circle.
Kapanen cut it to 2-1 at 12:11 when he deflected Jayden Struble’s shot from the point through goalmouth traffic down and past Andersen.
