MONTREAL (AP) — The Toronto Maple Leafs simply ran out of steam against the Montreal Canadiens.
Jonathan Drouin scored two goals on breakaways, and the Canadiens beat the Maple Leafs 5-2 on Saturday night.
Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia and Nick Suzuki also scored for the Canadiens, who snapped a two-game losing skid. Carey Price made 29 saves.
Jake Muzzin and Andreas Johnsson scored for the Maple Leafs, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back. Backup Michael Hutchinson made 33 saves. Frederik Andersen led Toronto to a 4-1 victory over San Jose on Friday.
"You can't give up two breakaways and a 2-on-1 with the game that close," said Auston Matthews, who had one assist. "They obviously capitalized on their opportunities. We just have to find a way not to give those opportunities up. Maybe then it's a 3-2 or a 2-2 game in the third period and we're battling.
"We didn't necessarily take our foot off the gas, but a couple of mental errors that they capitalized on. You just can't do that."
The Canadiens broke a 2-2 tie with three goals in the third period.
Armia scored seven seconds into the frame, off a Leafs face-off win, by poking the puck around Muzzin and beating Hutchinson on the blocker side for his team-leading sixth of the year.
Drouin made it 4-2 for Montreal on his second breakaway goal at 7:40 off a giveaway by Tyson Barrie at the blue line.
Suzuki put the game away with his third goal of the season, scoring on a 2-on-1 with Nate Thompson at 11:53.
"You don't get all that many of them," said Brendan Gallagher of breakaways and odd-man rushes. "We were pretty fortunate. Those are big goals. Those opportunities don't come without good, smart plays and hard work. Those guys worked for those opportunities and made the most of them."
The teams were playing for the second of four games this season. Montreal also beat Toronto 6-5 in a shootout on Oct. 5.
"We've played a lot of hockey but I don't think we can talk about back-to-backs at this point in the season," said Babcock. "The first week is a different thing, but now you have to find ways to win these games.
The Canadiens jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Gallagher put Montreal in front at 7:43 after breaking away from Cody Ceci's loose coverage in front of goal. He cut to the net and scored off Tomas Tatar's backhand pass for his fifth of the season.
Montreal doubled its lead on Drouin's first breakaway goal at 12:34.
For the eighth time this season, the Canadiens conceded a goal in the final minute of a period when Muzzin beat Price with 16 seconds left in the first. It was Toronto's first shot in more than 11 minutes.
The equalizer came 5:52 into the second. With Montreal unable to control a loose puck in front of goal, Johnsson flipped it over Price's pad for his third of the season.
Notes: Max Domi saw his seven-game point streak come to an end. . Hutchinson dropped to 0-3-1 all-time against Montreal. ... Typical of an encounter between the teams, there was bad blood between Domi and Alexander Kerfoot, who traded words, slashes, big hits and even punches throughout the game.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: At Washington on Tuesday.
Canadiens: At Arizona on Wednesday.
