Canadiens score 4 in 1st, hand Kraken 8th straight loss

Alex Newhook scored twice in a four-goal first period for the Montreal Canadiens, who handed the Seattle Kraken their eighth straight loss with a 5-1 win at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Sunday.

Kaiden Guhle had a goal and two assists, and Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for Montreal (26-32-12), which had scored six goals in its previous four games (0-2-2). Cayden Primeau made 36 saves

“I think we needed a game like that just to maybe lift the weight off our shoulders a little bit,” Guhle said. “I think we were a little bit snakebitten. We’re getting a lot of chances, just couldn’t find the back of the net. So, it definitely feels good to get those and have a game like that tonight.”

It was the Canadiens’ first win in four games under assistant coach Trevor Letowski, who assumed the head coaching duties after Martin St. Louis took an indefinite leave of absence for family reasons on March 16.

“I feel a little uncomfortable saying that’s my first NHL win as a head coach,” Letowski said. “But it was a memorable week for me just because of the way that the team rallied around each other, and the staff and players had to kind of push a little extra to keep some kind of normalcy when we're missing our leader.”

Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle (28-29-13), which is 0-6-2 in its past eight games. Philipp Grubauer allowed four goals on six shots before being replaced by Joey Daccord, who made 10 saves.

Guhle put Montreal up 1-0 at 4:18 of the first period with a one-timer from the top of the slot that deflected five-hole off the stick of Jamie Oleksiak.

Newhook made it 2-0 at 6:22 when he redirected Guhle’s one-timer from the left point blocker side on Grubauer.

Suzuki pushed it to 3-0 at 17:33, shooting past Grubauer’s glove on a 2-on-1 with Cole Caufield. Juraj Slafkovksky had the secondary assist on the play to extend his point streak to seven games (two goals, six assists).

Newhook scored his second of the period at 18:00 to make it 4-0. He took a short pass from Brendan Gallagher in the left circle and beat Grubauer five-hole.

Eberle scored 56 seconds into the second period to cut it to 4-1, roofing a shot over Primeau’s left shoulder from the top of the right circle.

Matty Beniers appeared to score again for Seattle at 5:02, but Montreal successfully challenged that Beniers was offside prior to the goal.

Mike Matheson made it 5-1 at 13:16 with a short-handed goal. He broke up a pass from Jared McCann in the defensive zone, skated past Tomas Tatar as he entered the offensive zone, and deked Daccord before finishing with his forehand.

“Honestly, it’s tough sometimes to play with a lead that big, and we did a good job,” Guhle said. “‘Prime’ made a lot of big saves for us tonight. It could have been a different game if those went in.”

NOTES: Slafkovsky has 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) this season, tying Mario Tremblay (1974-75) for the most in a season by a teenager in Canadiens history. ... Guhle's three points were an NHL career high. He is the second-youngest defenseman (22 years, 66 days) in Canadiens history to have a three-point period, behind Mathieu Schneider (20 years, 274 days on March 13, 1990).