Jake Allen slams door as Canadiens blank Sharks for 1st win in San Jose since 1999 | CBC Sports
Jake Allen made 45 saves, Mike Hoffman scored for the third straight game and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Sharks 4-0 Thursday night for their first victory in San Jose in nearly 22 years.
Alexander Romanov, Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson also scored as Montreal snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Sharks, who looked flat early in their first game at home after an encouraging five-game road trip.
The Canadiens’ last road victory against the Sharks before Thursday came on Nov. 23, 1999. They hadn’t beat San Jose in any location since March 2015. Montreal, a Stanley Cup finalist last season, entered the night 1-6 and having been outscored 25-11.
“I thought it was a crucial game for our group,” Allen said. “I know it’s early, but we’re obviously in a funk, and I thought it was an important game to get our momentum going so we can finish this trip on the right note.”
The 31-year-old Allen, serving as the Canadiens’ No. 1 goalie while Carey Price is away from the team for personal reasons, notched his 22nd career shutout.
WATCH | Habs’ Allen shuts out Sharks:
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Montreal earns their first win in San Jose since 1999 with a 4-0 victory. 0:40
“Jakey has been playing unbelievable lately,” Anderson said. “We just haven’t played good enough in front of him. He really deserved this one tonight. Jake’s a good goalie, a really good goalie.”
Adin Hill made 28 saves for San Jose, which went 0 for 4 on the power play and missed a few prime scoring chances in the opener of a five-game homestand. After winning their season opener at home, the Sharks, playing without suspended star forward Evander Kane, went 3-2 on their recent five-game road swing.
“I thought we were sloppy at the beginning of the game,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “You’re always in that `catch’ game when you’re coming back out West. I was wondering how we were going to come out. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t our best.”
Hoffman broke a scoreless tie with a put-back of Brett Kulak’s shot with 7:51 remaining in the first. Montreal increased its lead on Romanov’s one-timer at 8:53 of the second period. A few minutes after that, Gallagher scored a power-play goal to make it 3-0 when he deposited a pass from Anderson while camped to the left of the net.
Anderson added an empty-net goal with about two minutes remaining.
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