The Canadian slowed down the team of the hour in the NHL, Sunday afternoon at the Bell Centre.
Jordan Harris scored two goals, Jake Allen stopped 30 shots and the Montreal club defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-2.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who leads the NHL with 97 points, was shut out for just the sixth time this season. He had collected at least one point in each of his previous 15 games.
The Oilers had not lost in regulation since Jan. 9 against the Kings in Los Angeles, an 11-game streak (9-0-2).
Alex Belzile, with his first in the NHL, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak each scored a goal for the Canadian (22-27-4), who won his two games in the afternoon of the weekend of the Super Bowl. Jonathan Drouin and Evgenii Dadonov each had two assists.
Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane replied for the Oilers (30-19-5). Evan Bouchard had two assists and Stuart Skinner made 24 saves.
Forward Joel Armia was back in action for the Canadiens after missing eight games with an upper body injury. Rem Pitlick gave him his place in the training.
The Habs, however, lost the services of defender Arber Xhekaj in the second period. Xhekaj appeared to hurt his right shoulder in a fight against Vincent Desharnais.
The Canadiens will take over the collar on Tuesday, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at the Bell Center.
A team effort
Belzile started the hostilities by scoring after 8:14 of play in the first period. He fired while pivoting after a scrum in front of Skinner’s net.
Allen signaled himself a few times before the end of the first period. He notably frustrated McDavid twice, first on a point-blank shot and then on a good shot after a dramatic surge from the Oilers captain.
The Habs widened the gap by scoring twice in the second half of the second period. Harris first caught Skinner from a tight angle at 3:54, then Anderson scored on the power play at 8:23 on a rebound.
The Oilers have finally managed to turn things around, taking advantage of the Canadian’s lack of discipline.
Draisaitl scored at 12:22 on a rebound on the power play, then the Oilers got 1:28 on the power play from two players moments later. Allen was intractable, however, twice frustrating Draisaitl on one-timers.
Allen looked worse when he was caught off guard by Kane seconds after David Savard left the penalty box at 14:59 of the second period.
Harvey-Pinard finally stopped the bleeding and gave the Canadiens a two-goal cushion by scoring on the power play with 1:19 left in the second period. He scored his sixth goal in nine games this season, deflecting a Mike Matheson shot behind Skinner.
Harris then dealt a big blow to the Oilers’ hopes by scoring again, 2:58 into the third period. Skinner didn’t look too good against the Habs defenseman’s low shot.
Dvorak took advantage of a nice steal from Kirby Dach over Bouchard to score a 200th NHL point by moving the ropes at 9:12. It was a shorthanded goal.