MONTREAL

Tatar, Weber power-play goals lift Canadiens to 3-1 victory over Canucks

Jim Morris The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, December 18, 2019 9:56AM EST

Montreal Canadiens' Shea Weber, back right, Joel Armia, back left, of Finland, and Brett Kulak celebrate Weber's goal as Vancouver Canucks' Jordie Benn (4) and Christopher Tanev (8) look on during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Tuesday December 17, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

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VANCOUVER -- Tomas Tatar and Shea Weber scored power-play goals 1:34 apart in the third period as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Canucks 3-1 Tuesday night.

Max Domi and Joel Armia had two assists each for the Canadiens (16-12-6) who are 4-1-0 over their last five games.

"That's a gutsy, character win for sure on the road," said Domi. "They had some opportunities on the power play and our PK was great. We capitalized on our power plays. We grinded it out."

The Canadiens went ahead 2-1 just 1:51 into the third period after Jake Virtanen was sent off for slashing. With Montreal buzzing in the Vancouver zone, Phillip Danault was hauled down. As he lay on the ice, he managed to slide the puck to Tatar, who scored his fourth goal in as many games.

Vancouver's Tanner Pearson was called for tripping on the play. That led to Weber finding a loose puck and scoring his 11th of the season at 3:25 of the third period.

Montreal was two-for-two on the power play after going 0 for 1 in a 2-1 loss to Detroit on Saturday night.

"We needed one," said Tatar. "Last game we didn't get one.

"It gave us a spark for sure."

The Canucks pressed as the third period wound down. They came close to scoring with under five minutes remaining when an Elias Pettersson shot hit the cross bar, then fell behind goaltender Carey Price.

"It was just hard work," said Price, who finished the night with 38 saves. "I thought we did a good job of protecting our house and making it difficult."

Montreal coach Claude Julien said his team got better as the game progressed.

"I liked our game," he said. "It was a good road game, a good road win."

The game opened a western Canadian road swing which sees the Canadiens playing in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg before Christmas.

Both teams had goals disallowed during the second period.

Gaudette looked to have scored his second of the night off the rebound of a Josh Leivo breakaway. The goal was waved off after a video review showed Leivo was offside.

Armia thought he had put the Canadiens ahead a few minutes later but a review showed Lehkonen interfering with Markstrom.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2019.