EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Jake Allen made 25 saves in his first game with Montreal, Shea Weber got his first goal of the season and the Canadiens beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 Monday night.
Artturi Lehkonen and rookie Alexander Romanov also scored for Montreal, which beat Edmonton for the second time in three nights. The Habs also trounced the Oilers 5-1 on Saturday.
Montreal’s penalty kill was key in the victory, shutting down Oilers snipers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on seven power plays.
“The reason that we’re coming out of here with four points is probably because we were able to really nullify that one-two punch that can win games on their own,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said.
Mikko Koskinen stopped 31 shots for Edmonton. He conceded a short-handed goal 12:15 into the third period after Lehkonen broke up a pass in his own zone and sprinted up the ice with the puck on his stick. He put a quick snap shot past Koskinen for his first of the season and put Montreal up 3-0.
Edmonton clawed back with just over two minutes to go, with Devin Shore popping a snap shot past Allen for a short-handed tally.
During a power play late in the second period, Weber launched a shot from the side of the net and Koskinen made the initial stop. He couldn’t control the rebound, though, which bounced back out to Weber. The defenseman batted it in off Koskinen’s back as he lay in the crease with Shore underneath him.
The goal was instantly called off, with the official saying Jeff Petry caused goalie interference when he sent Shore crashing into his netminder. Julien challenged, and upon review, the officials awarded the goal and gave Montreal a 2-0 lead.
“You’re always a little nervous because there’s no guarantees in whether you win that or not,” Julien said. “There was a bit of a risk but I really felt that we could win this challenge.”
The challenged goal seemed to be a dagger the Oilers simply couldn’t recover from.
“Obviously we hadn’t played a great period up to that point,” forward Kyle Turris said. “We can’t let that happen. So the fact that they scored at the end of it, maybe it was a bit deflating, but we need to be able to rebound at the break and come out like we did in the first period.”
Romanov opened the scoring 9:53 into the game with a shot from just below the blue line. The puck rocketed through traffic and past Koskinen stick side for the Russian rookie’s first NHL goal.
Allen was acquired from St. Louis in September to back up Carey Price.
