San Jose Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen deflects the puck off his glove during the first period. Kahkonen faced 28 shots and stopped all of them to shutout the Montreal Canadiens at the Belle Centre in Montreal on Tue Nov 29, 2022 (The Canadian Press photo/via AP)
By Matthew Harrington
Kaapo Kähkönen and the San Jose Sharks shut out the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 Tuesday night at the Bell Centre in Montreral in a penalty-filled contest. Tomas Hertl scored a pair, Logan Couture had two points and Matt Nieto scored for San Jose (8-13-4) to snap a three-game winless streak. Kähkönen made 28 saves for the win over Montreal (11-10-1).
Kähkönen was stellar in net, giving the Sharks confidence in their net situation with James Reimer currently out with an injury. Reimer had earned the bulk of starts while Kähkönen scuffled early in the year.
Nieto opened the scoring on a wrister just 1:33 into the contest, but the real damage came in the thirs period. Hertl tipped a puck past Habs netminder Jake Allen 2:29 into the period for a 2-0 lead. Just 1:15 later Couture would beat Allen with a wrist shot then Hertl chipped in the empty netter with 2:14 left to play. Kevin Labanc assisted on both Hertl’s goals for a two-point period.
The Canadiens went on the man advantage six times, including a 5-on-3 to open the third, but Kähkönen was stout in the crease. The Sharks also had their power play chances, going up a man five times without scoring.
San Jose continues the Canadian road trip with a back-to-back, facing Toronto Wednesday night. Then its on to Ottawa Saturday for a match-up with the Senators.
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