Dach propels Canadiens past Blues to end 4-game skid

MONTREAL -- Kirby Dach had a goal and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Bell Centre on Saturday.

It was Dach’s first goal since March 23, 2023, after missing most of last season because of a torn ACL and MCL sustained in Montreal’s second game on Oct. 14, 2023.

“It was nice to get it in front of the fans,” Dach said. “They were really supportive all year last year, and have been early this year. It’s been a long road since I scored a goal. So, it was nice to get that one, but even better to get the two points as a team and play a complete game.”

Joel Armia and Jake Evans also each had a goal and an assist, and Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had two assists for the Canadiens (3-4-1), who ended a four-game skid (0-3-1). Sam Montembeault made 29 saves.

“I felt we were harder to play against,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I felt there was less space, and when there was some space there was pressure into that space right away. And everybody reads off one another. I felt we were able to kill more plays on the yellow, on the boards, like anticipating kills and then bringing numbers and breaking the puck out together.

“There’s no bulletproof system, but I felt the way we played it tonight, we raised the percentage of us winning.”

Jake Neighbours and Colton Parayko scored for the Blues (5-4-0), who had won three of four. Jordan Binnington made 21 saves.

“It’s not a good game,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought we kind of tiptoed into the first period. I thought for 40 minutes we didn’t bring a lot of physicality to the game. We didn’t finish our checks, I thought we turned off a lot. In the third we started to get a little bit more physical and spend more time in the offensive zone.”

Evans gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 8:34 of the first period, scoring on a 2-on-1. He skated down the left side after taking a long pass from Armia and scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle 11 seconds after Montreal killed a penalty.

Dach made it 2-0 at 1:12 of the second period, knocking in a rebound of Suzuki’s shot.

Parayko cut it to 2-1 after scoring 21 seconds later. He jammed in a loose puck in the crease on a net-front scramble off Ryan Suter’s shot from the left side.

Neighbours tied it 2-2 at 4:02 when he scored from the front edge of the crease on Brandon Saad’s pass from behind the net. It was Neighbours’ fourth goal in five games.

“I feel good,” Neighbours said. “I think I’m playing well. I think our line’s been effective, and I think we can still be better offensively and holding onto pucks, wearing teams down in the O-zone. I think that can be said for all of us. Obviously, it’s nice when you’re contributing, but at the end of the day you want to contribute to wins.”

Alex Newhook put Montreal back ahead 3-2 at 14:04 with a power-play goal off a face-off. Newhook shot into an open net after taking Dach’s pass across the goalmouth.

Cole Caufield extended it to 4-2 at 5:19 of the third period, taking a pass from Suzuki in the neutral zone and scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

Armia scored an empty-net goal at 16:49 for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: It was Dach’s first multipoint game since he had two assists in Montreal’s season opener last season, a 6-5 shootout loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 11, 2023. … Canadiens defenseman Lane Huston had an assist on Caufield’s goal, his seventh in 10 NHL games. He is the first rookie defenseman in Canadiens history with seven assists through his first 10 career games, and the third rookie defenseman in the NHL since 2019-20 to accomplish the feat; the others were Cale Makar (one goal, eight assists with the Colorado Avalanche) Moritz Seider (eight assists with the Detroit Red Wings).