MTL@VAN: Game Recap

VANCOUVER - The Canadiens' offense was firing on all cylinders in Thursday night's 7-3 win over the Canucks at Rogers Arena.

The Habs struck early in the first period, with Tyler Toffoli lighting the lamp at the 1:54 mark.
The 28-year-old Scarborough, ON native picked up right where he left off on Wednesday night when he registered a hat trick.
Toffoli buried a loose puck in front of Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko, getting things off to a strong start.

His fourth goal of the season was assisted by Joel Armia, who was playing his 300th NHL game.

The Canadiens' advantage didn't last long, though.
Bo Horvat responded for Vancouver just 86 seconds later, beating goaltender Jake Allen, who was making his second start of the season.
The Habs went back in front rather quickly courtesy of Armia, who collected the 10th short-handed tally of his career.
The 27-year-old Finn solved Demko on a breakaway at the 5:27 mark of the frame, celebrating his milestone contest in style with his first goal of the year.

Toffoli picked up the lone assist on the Habs' third short-handed marker of the season through five games.
Horvat answered right back for Vancouver, unfortunately, capitalizing on a prime scoring opportunity on the power play to level the scoreline 2-2 at 7:13.
Defenseman Brett Kulak was serving a slashing penalty when Horvat found the back of the net.
That's the way things stood after 20 minutes.
Seventy-three seconds into the second period, the Canadiens scored another short-handed goal to pull ahead 3-2.
Armia intercepted an Elias Pettersson pass attempt at the Montreal blue line and sent Toffoli in alone on Demko - and he made no mistake for his second goal of the night.

Toffoli's fifth goal of the campaign was also his seventh short-handed strike in the NHL ranks.
The Canadiens closed out the latter stages of the period by blitzing the Canucks with three goals in a span of 94 seconds.
Josh Anderson put his baseball skills on full display with this sweet tally at 14:56, which was assisted by Nick Suzuki and Jonathan Drouin.
It was his third goal of the season, and Suzuki extended his point streak to five games with the helper.

Nine seconds later, Jake Evans went top shelf on Demko for his second goal of the year.

Shortly thereafter, Armia added another goal of his own at 16:30 to give Montreal a 6-2 lead at the break.

The Habs outshot the Canucks 18-3 in the frame and led 30-10 in that department after 40 minutes.
Vancouver forward Brandon Sutter cut into the Canadiens' lead with a goal just under five minutes into the third period, beating Allen with a backhander upstairs after getting around defenseman Alexander Romanov.
Ben Chiarot added a power play goal with 65 seconds left in regulation to cap the scoring.

Allen finished the contest with 14 saves to secure the victory, while his teammates peppered Demko with 42 shots of their own.
The Canadiens will close out their three-game set against the Canucks on Saturday at Rogers Arena.
It will also mark the end of their six-game road trip.