Khaira, Oilers ease past Price, Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Jujhar Khaira had his first two-goal game in the NHL, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 at Bell Centre on Saturday.

WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Canadiens highlights]
Michael Cammalleri, Milan Lucic, Oscar Klefbom and Yohann Auvitu scored for Edmonton (12-15-2).

Montreal pulled goalie Carey Price after falling behind 4-0 on Lucic's power-play goal at 2:24 of the second period.
"I pulled him in the hope that it would give us some spunk or energy, if you will," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "It wasn't his best game, I think that's pretty obvious."
Connor McDavid, who extended his point streak to four games (one goal, four assists), and Ryan Strome each had two assists, and Laurent Brossoit made 22 saves for the Oilers, who are 4-2-0 in their past six games.
"It was a good night for our club," Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. "We established momentum and we never relinquished it. That was a big part of us playing consistent all night. We did a lot of the little things needed to do to win. If we can bottle that up and repeat it (at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday) then we've got something going. That's going to be our biggest test."
Alex Galchenyuk and Phillip Danault scored for the Canadiens (13-14-4), who have lost three straight (0-2-1) following a five-game winning streak.

"It's not a fun loss," Julien said. "We know the importance of the game and I don't think we just brush it off. I'm not brushing it off, but I do have to move on and prepare us for the next game. I don't have a choice. But I've got to make some corrections."
Price made 10 saves on 14 shots before being replaced by Antti Niemi, who made 24 saves.
"Well, I didn't wake up this morning hoping to get pulled," Price said.
Cammalleri gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 7:46 of the first period with his first goal in 10 games with Edmonton since being acquired in a Nov. 14 trade with the Los Angeles Kings.
Khaira made it 2-0 at 11:37 after Strome knocked the puck down behind the net on Price's clearing attempt.

"There's always those games where the puck finds you, and this was one of them," said Khaira, who made it 3-0 with his fifth goal at 1:11 of the second period.
"He's using his body, he's moving more, he's skating with the puck, he's confident in those areas around the net and he's getting rewarded for it," Lucic said. "It's great to see a guy like him step up and provide us with some much-needed offense and hopefully he can continue that."
Leon Draisaitl got his 100th NHL assist on Lucic's goal, which made it 4-0.
Galchenyuk scored on the power play at 13:44 of the second to make it 4-1.
Klefbom's power-play goal made it 5-1 at 2:39 of the third period, and Auvitu made it 6-1 when he finished off a passing play with McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi 40 seconds later at 3:09.
It was the 11th time this season that Montreal has allowed two goals within a minute.
Danault made it 6-2 at 15:58.

Goal of the game

Lucic's power-play goal at 2:24 of the second period.

Save of the game

Brossoit's save on Danault at 5:39 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Auvitu's goal at 3:09 of the third period.

They said it

"I have a lot of confidence from my teammates and it's nice coming to the rink, there's always words of encouragement. Just having that on your side, you go out there with a lot of confidence. The team played great today and it showed up on the scoreboard." -- Oilers forward Jujhar Khaira
"We've got to look at things we have to do better, and some of it is we've got to get better at winning battles for loose pucks. And if we get better there, we spend probably more time in the offensive zone and we probably come out of our own end quicker. This is a game of small details at this level, and we've got to get better at the small details." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

Need to know

Mark Letestu got his 200th NHL point with an assist on Klefbom's goal ... Price is 0-7-1 with a 4.51 goals-against average and .862 save percentage in eight starts against Western Conference teams. He is 8-2-1 with a 2.21 GAA and .927 save percentage against Eastern Conference teams.

What's next

Oilers: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)