The skinny: Ben Scrivens faced his former team and backstopped a solid defensive effort and the Canadiens unleashed their strongest offensive effort in months as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 Saturday afternoon at the Bell Centre. The win ended a four-game losing streak and moved the Canadiens five points back of the eighth-place New Jersey Devils.
Scrivens’s revenge: Ben Scrivens came back to bite the Oilers, who sent him to the minors at the beginning of the season and then traded him to the Canadiens. Scrivens was flawless through the first two periods, losing his shutout when Benoît Pouliot scored a short-handed goal at 1:51 of the third period. Scrivens made 23 saves for his first win in five starts with the Canadiens.
Lightning strikes: The Canadiens not only scored the first goal of the game, but they did so on the power play. Brendan Gallagher was credited with his 13th goal of the season when Tomas Plekanec’s shot from the point was deflected in front at 7:27 of the first period.
Odd man in: Lars Eller scored off an odd-man rush to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead at 16:11 of the first period. Tomas Fleischmann was rushing up the right wing when he spotted Eller trailing in the middle of the ice. Eller beat Cam Talbot with a shot to the glove side for his ninth goal of the season.
Plucky Pleky: Plekanec, who was originally credited with the opening goal, scored his 10th of the season to give the Canadiens a 3-0 lead at 11:38 of the second period. His shot from the side boards caromed off the skate of Edmonton defenceman Eric Gryba.
Now you see, now you don’t: Talbot didn’t have a chance when P.K. Subban took a pass from Plekanec and let it rip from 30 feet out at 18:01 of the second period. Subban’s fifth goal of the season caught the top corner on the near side. Subban also assisted on the game’s first goal and extended his consecutive-game points streak to five games with two goals and six assists.
Piling it on: Anders Nilsson replaced Talbot in the third period and gave up goal at 9:59 when defenceman Tom Gilbert went hard to the net and redirected a pass from Plekanec. That completed a four-point night for Plekanec, who had a goal and three assists.
Coming up: The Canadiens close out their Super Bowl weekend schedule Sunday with a visit from the Carolina Hurricanes (2:30 p.m., Sportsnet, RDS, TSN-690 Radio). The Canadiens are home to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday before opening a three-game road trip Friday in Buffalo.
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