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Canadiens suffer power outage in 4-0 loss to the Sharks

Montreal goes 0-for-6 with the man advantage against league's top-ranked penalty-killing unit.

Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen prepares for a shot while Canadiens forward Evgenii Dadonov lurks nearby during game Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen prepares for a shot while Canadiens forward Evgenii Dadonov lurks nearby during game Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. Photo by Minas Panagiotakis /Getty Images

The San Jose Sharks made the most of their limited opportunities as they defeated the Canadiens 4-0 Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

San Jose mustered 24 shots on goal, but three of their first 15 efforts found their way behind Jake Allen, who returned to the net after Sam Montembeault posted back-to-back road wins in Columbus and Chicago.

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Allen didn’t get a lot of support from his teammates.

The Canadiens aren’t very good on the power play — they rank 29th in the NHL — but they made life easy on the league’s top-ranked penalty-killing unit. The Canadiens went 0-for-6 on the power play and failed to get a shot on goal during a 5-on-3 advantage for 55 seconds to start the third period. The Canadiens passed the puck aimlessly for 43 seconds before Cole Caufield took a shot that was blocked.

Shortly after the Sharks’ penalties expired, Tomas Hertl scored to make it 2-0 and Logan Couture followed that with his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Hertl completed the scoring into an empty net.

The Canadiens were fortunate to come out of the first six minutes trailing 1-0.

Allen stopped Alexander Barabanov on a wraparound attempt, but the puck was at his feet when Matthew Nieto pushed the rebound across the goal line to open the scoring at 1:33.

Coach Martin St. Louis challenged the goal for an offside violation and the Canadiens were assessed a minor penalty for delay of game when the situation room in Toronto determined the play was onside

The Canadiens killed the penalty, but four seconds after the team returned to full strength, Montreal was short-handed again when Johnathan Kovacevic put the puck over the glass and received a penalty for delay of game. Allen had a chance to settle in with five saves as the Canadiens killed both penalties.

Montreal had two power plays later in the first period and goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen had a lot of help from his teammates. San Jose blocked 13 shots in the period, seven of them while playing short-handed. Montreal managed only two shots with the extra man, both by Caufield.

Kahkonen made 28 saves for the shutout.

The Canadiens thought they had a tying goal five minutes into the second period when Christian Dvorak lifted a shot over a prone Kahkonen, but the goal was immediately waved off because Evgenii Dadonov was guilty of pushing Nick Cicek into the goaltender.

Montreal’s penalty-killing continued to be a bright spot. The Sharks went 0-for-5 on their opportunities and the Canadiens’ PK moved into the top 10.

Aside from the change in goal, there was one other change for the Canadiens with Jordan Harris subbing in for Arber Xhekaj.

The Canadiens head to Calgary to play the Flames Thursday. It’s the start of a four-game western road trip that continues with games in Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle.

phickey@postmedia.com

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