Jones gets 27th career shutout, Kraken beat Canadiens 4-0
Seattle Kraken goaltender Martin Jones (30) celebrates with teammate Daniel Sprong (91) after shutting out the Montreal Canadiens in NHL hockey game action Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, in Montreal. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
MONTREAL (AP) — Vince Dunn and Eeli Tolvanen each had a goal and an assist, Martin Jones stopped 21 shots for his second shutout of the season as the Seattle Kraken beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-0 on Monday night for their fifth straight win.
Daniel Sprong and Matty Beniers also scored, and Yanni Gourde had two assists in his return to his home province of Quebec. The Kraken are now 4-0 on a seven-game trip to open the new year and have outscored opponents 26-8 during their overall win streak.
“It’s a difficult month, right?” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “You’re gonna get into rhythms like this where you’re gonna be busy and play a lot of hockey, so it’s nice that we’ve been able to start it off successfully. That feels good.
“Probably one of the bigger strengths of our group has been being able to enjoy the moment for a little while and then turn the page.”
Jones had six saves in the first period, nine in the second and six in the third to get his 27th career shutout.
Samuel Montembeault had 37 saves for Montreal, which snapped a seven-game skid with a 5-4 win against St. Louis on Saturday.
“After a big win like that, I don’t know, we seemed to take it really easy, thought it might be an easy night,” the Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki said. “There’s no easy nights in this league and especially with a team like that. A lot of guys are playing to prove something, they’ve been playing really well as of late and we dug ourselves too big a hole in the first period.”
The surging Kraken jumped out of the starting blocks, outshooting Montreal 19-6 and grabbing a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Seattle opened the scoring at 6:54 of the opening period when Dunn found Tolvanen with a cross-ice pass through the slot. The forward got his fifth goal of the season.
Sprong doubled the Kraken’s lead on the power play with a heavy shot from the point just past the midpoint of the period. It was his 13th.
Dunn also fired a slap shot from the point to give Seattle a 3-0 lead with 5:40 remaining in the first.
The Kraken shut down Montreal’s attack, blocking a total of 18 shots. Jones made an impressive pad save on Nick Suzuki with 3:03 remaining in the third to preserve his shutout.
“I was just trying to make the best read I can, obviously they were pressing at the end there being up 3-0 with three minutes left,” Jones said. “I was able to make that save and, really, the guys did all the rest.”
Montreal pulled Montembeault but Beniers sealed Seattle’s win with an empty-netter with 1:03 remaining.
ROAD WARRIORS
The second-year Kraken have won five straight on the road and are 13-4-2 on the season away from home.
“We’ve had a pretty busy schedule so the team bonding moments have been there, but I think maybe when we’re on the road it’s just all about hockey,” Dunn said. “It’s not distractions, maybe with family visiting town or things like that. It’s always good to be home but I don’t know why we’re so good on the road.”
REVERSE ZERO
The Canadiens lost a fourth straight game with their reverse retro uniforms, falling to 0-4-0 while getting outscored 18-5 in their light blue jerseys.
EMERGENCY RECALL
The Canadiens announced a few hours before the game that goaltender Jake Allen suffered an upper-body injury. The team recalled Cayden Primeau from Laval of the AHL and he was the backup against the Kraken.
UP NEXT
Kraken: At Buffalo on Tuesday night in the fifth of a seven-game trip.
Canadiens: Host Nashville on Thursday night in the finale of a three-game homestand.
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