Lightning score 6, ease past Canadiens to end 4-game losing streak

MONTREAL -- Darren Raddysh scored twice, and the Tampa Bay Lightning ended a four-game losing streak with a 6-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay (17-11-2), which had been shut out in its previous two games, including a 2-0 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

Jonas Johansson made 26 saves in his fourth straight start.

“He’s been keeping us in games, and he’s been doing his job and really setting us up for a win,” Raddysh said.

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman left the game after the first period because of an undisclosed injury and did not return.

“It’s a little bit of a concern so we’ll get him reevaluated here,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We still have a couple of games on this road trip. But it’s tough to lose the big guy, he’s such an important part of our team. So fingers crossed.”

Oliver Kapanen scored a power-play goal late in the second period for Montreal (15-11-3), which has lost four of six. Jakub Dobes, making his fourth start in a row, allowed three goals on 14 shots before he was replaced after the first period, and Sam Montembeault allowed three goals on 13 shots in relief.

Canadiens forward Cole Caufield’s point streak ended at 11 games, which had been the longest active run in the NHL. He had 13 points (four goals, nine assists) during the streak, which tied the longest of his career.

“I think we’ve got to be a lot more mature,” Caufield said. “We can’t let games get out of hand like that. We’ve got to find ways to stop it and get the momentum back. We’ve just got to be a lot better. It’s pretty frustrating right now.”

Point put Tampa Bay up 1-0 at 2:27 of the first period, ending the Lightning’s goal drought at 130:43. He drove around Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble inside the blue line before skating in alone to score on a wrist shot over Dobes’ right shoulder from the right face-off circle.

“It was awesome,” Raddysh said. “‘Pointer’ got us going there and it kind of just gave everyone a little bit of a jump. We’ve been playing well but we just haven’t been scoring, and just to get that first one in the first period was a really good start.”

Pontus Holmberg made it 2-0 at 6:03 when he came out of the penalty box and jumped on a loose puck before putting a backhand between Dobes’ pads on a breakaway.

Kucherov increased it to 3-0 at 17:12 when he one-timed a shot from the right circle into an open right side.

Charle-Edouard D'Astous made it 4-0 at 2:43 of the second. The defenseman, who is from Rimouski, Quebec, and had about 50 family members and friends on hand for his first game in Montreal, finished the game plus-5.

“It’s a great feeling scoring a goal here in Montreal in front of my friends and family,” D’Astous said. “It’s a childhood dream for Quebecers to be able to play at Bell Centre and score. It’s a really great feeling.”

Kapanen cut it to 4-1 at 19:06. He batted the puck into an open net after Nick Suzuki’s shot from the left circle hit both posts.

“I liked our start, for sure,” said Suzuki, the Montreal captain. “I thought we generated a lot early on and then we gave up two breakaway goals, and then the third one there. And when you give a team like that a 3-0 lead it’s definitely tough to come back, and it definitely wasn’t the start we needed for sure.”

Raddysh extended the lead to 5-1 at 1:22 of the third period when he scored on a wrist shot over Montembeault’s right shoulder from a sharp angle on the right side.

Raddysh then pushed it to 6-1 with a power-play goal at 8:41. He scored from the point off a face-off win, giving him his second NHL multigoal game in his 200th game.

“It’s a special night,” Raddysh said, “but I’m just fortunate to play in the NHL and get to do it here at the Bell Centre.”

NOTES: Lightning forward Jake Guentzel (assist) got his 600th NHL point (282 goals, 318 assists) in his 630th game. He is the sixth active American player to reach the mark in fewer than 700 games (Auston Matthews, 527 games; Patrick Kane, 604; Jack Eichel, 607; Matthew Tkachuk, 611; Kyle Connor, 628). … Suzuki had an assist to give him 25 in 29 games this season, becoming the fastest Canadiens player with that many since Saku Koivu had 25 assists through 28 games in 1996-97. … Montreal recalled goalie Jacob Fowler, defenseman Adam Engstrom and forward Owen Beck from Laval of the American Hockey League after the game.