Alex Belzile scored his first career NHL goal and Jordan Harris recorded his first career two-goal game as the host Montreal Canadiens held Connor McDavid off the scoresheet and claimed a 6-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Goaltender Jake Allen sparkled while making 29 saves, including seven against McDavid, who saw his point streak snapped at 15 games.
Josh Anderson, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Christian Dvorak also scored for the Canadiens, while Evgenii Dadonov and Jonathan Drouin both collected two assists.
Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane replied for the Oilers, who went into the game on a 9-0-2 run. Goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 24 shots.
Belzile, a 31-year-old forward, spent five seasons in the ECHL, two tiers below the NHL, in a long climb to Montreal. He opened the scoring at the 8:14 mark of his 20th big-league game.
Harris doubled the lead when he ripped a sharp-angled shot from below the left circle at 3:54 of the second period, and then Anderson’s power-play goal on a rebound, his 15th tally of the season, made it a 3-0 count before the game’s midway point.
Draisaitl’s power-play goal put the Oilers on the board at 12:22 of the frame, earning him a fifth consecutive 30-goal season, before Kane made it a 3-2 game with five minutes remaining in the period when he buried a long shot for his ninth of the season.
However, the Canadiens regrouped and Harvey-Pinard’s power-play goal with 79 seconds left in the second period, his sixth of the season, restored a two-goal edge. He has scored six goals in nine games since being summoned from the minors.
Harris notched his second of the game, and third of the season, about three minutes into the third period, and Dvorak added a short-handed goal, his eighth goal of the season, midway through the period to round out the scoring.
The Oilers were without forward Klim Kostin due to an injury suffered in Saturday’s road win over the Ottawa Senators. Montreal lost defenseman Arber Xhekaj after he appeared to injure his right hand in a second-period fight.
–Field Level Media
