MONTREAL (AP) — Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots as the Montreal Canadiens blanked Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Monday night. Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle and Jake Evans — into an empty net — scored for Montreal, which matched its longest winning streak of the season with a second consecutive victory. Montembeault earned his second shutout of the campaign after a 48-save showing against Toronto in the season-opener.
Calvin Pickard made 22 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers lost their second in a row after falling 4-3 in overtime to Toronto on Saturday. Gallagher deflected a hard pass from Mike Matheson into the top right corner to open the scoring with 31 seconds left in the second period.
Canadiens: Montreal outshot the Oilers 11-9 in the third period. They also denied the Oilers on three power-play opportunities. Despite its stacked offense, Edmonton ranks in the bottom third of the league with the man-advantage this season.
Oilers: Edmonton was without defenseman Darnell Nurse . Coach Kris Knoblauch announced earlier Monday that Nurse will be out five to 10 days. Nurse was injured by a hit to the head from Toronto forward Ryan Reaves on Saturday.
Montembeault stood tall on a partial break from Jeff Skinner midway through the third, denying the backhand with a pad save to earn “Monty! Monty!” chants. Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played in his 900th NHL game, all with the Oilers. Drafted first overall by the franchise in 2011, Nugent-Hopkin.