Josh Anderson scored twice in the second period and the Montreal Canadiens led 4-0 against the New York Islanders after 40 minutes of play, Saturday evening at the Bell Centre.
After a first period where there were not many scoring chances, the Habs took control of the game during the second period.
Joel Armia opened the scoring at 7:45, taking advantage of a good effort from Brendan Gallagher before beating goaltender Semyon Varlamov on the glove side.
Anderson then scored his second goal of the season, and his first against a goalie, at 10:35. He was hit in the slot by a shot from Justin Barron, then he beat Varlamov by shooting while pivoting on him- even.
The power forward returned to the attack with 52.4 seconds left in the period. Anderson ignored defenseman Mike Reilly’s coverage and rushed to the net to beat Varlamov.
Cole Caufield then made it 4-0 in favor of the Canadian with 37.9 seconds remaining. Juraj Slafkovsky made defender Alexander Romanov lose control of the puck behind his net. Nick Suzuki quickly joined Caufield in the slot and the American forward scored with a one-timer.
Varlamov stopped 31 shots in the first two periods of play. At the other end of the ice, Samuel Montembeault made 16 saves.
Forward Jake Evans was in the Canadian squad after missing the team’s practices over the past two days.
The Canadian will play three times abroad next week, before his Christmas break. He will visit the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.