Patrik Laine (400th point), Habs extend Utah’s recent slide

Kirby Dach scored twice while Lane Hutson, who leads all rookies in points, recorded his first three-assist game to pace the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday in

Patrik Laine (400th point), Habs extend Utah’s recent slide

Kirby Dach scored twice while Lane Hutson, who leads all rookies in points, recorded his first three-assist game to pace the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.

Montreal’s Cole Caufield and Mike Matheson both netted one goal and one assist, while Patrik Laine scored a goal to reach the 400-point plateau. Sam Montembeault made 22 saves for the Canadiens, winners of 10 of their last 13 games (10-2-1).

Josh Doan, Nick Bjugstad and Logan Cooley scored for Utah, which has only one win in five games (1-3-1) and is on a 2-7-2 skid. Karel Vejmelka stopped 21 shots.

With the score tied at 3, Caufield scored at 6:33 of the third by deflecting Hutson’s shot for his sixth goal in seven games.

Dach’s second of the game provided the insurance marker with 3:45 remaining for a Montreal club that earned the win by dominating the final two periods.

Amidst a tale of two games in the opening two periods, Utah twice staked a lead only for the Canadiens to draw even.

Doan’s power-play goal, a rebound from the doorstep, opened the scoring at the 2:11 mark, but Matheson replied 67 seconds later while on a partial breakaway. It was Montreal’s only shot over the first 18 minutes of the clash.

Bjugstad gave Utah another lead with 54 seconds remaining in the first period by banking a sharp-angled shot off Montembeault’s back and into the cage to snap a 22-game goal drought.

However, Laine evened the score midway through the second period with a one-timer from the left faceoff dot for his 10th goal in 15 games this season.

After outshooting Montreal 14-3 in the first period, Utah needed more than 14 minutes to record a second-period shot.

Dach put Montreal ahead for the first time with 86 seconds remaining in the middle frame when he deposited a backhand shot. But Cooley tied the game at 3 at 3:07 of the third when he converted a loose puck from the right circle.