Niemi, Canadiens defeat Ducks, end three-game losing streak

MONTREAL -- Antti Niemi made 43 saves, and the Montreal Canadiens ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Bell Centre on Saturday.
Jeff Petry scored two of three power-play goals for Montreal (21-25-6), which scored one goal in its past two games.

WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Canadiens highlights]
Logan Shaw, Joe Morrow and David Schlemko scored to give the Canadiens a 3-0 lead in a 4:03 span in the first period.
"I think Anaheim] came out ready to play, and they did have the puck for the first five minutes and they did have nine shots," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "And at the same time, we just needed to get the puck on our stick and start managing it. And when we did, we scored some goals."
Ducks goalie Ryan Miller, who made four saves on seven shots in his second straight start for injured John Gibson, was replaced by
[Reto Berra
, who made 20 saves.
Corey Perry scored his 100th power-play goal, and Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist for Anaheim (25-18-10), which was 3-0-1 in its prior four games.

"[The referees] started calling penalties," Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf said. "That's the momentum change of the game. Our [penalty] kill didn't get it done. And their power play did."
Anaheim outshot Montreal 9-0 before Byron Froese drove to the net for the Canadiens' first shot on goal, with Shaw scoring on the rebound at 6:10 for a 1-0 lead.
"We knew that they were going to come out and play a heavy game and I don't think we were as sharp early on," Petry said. "As the game went on, we got better."
Morrow made it 2-0 on a power play at 8:17, scoring on a one-timer from the right point. Schlemko increased the lead to 3-0 at 10:13 when he drove the slot for his first goal with the Canadiens, and his first since Jan. 21, 2017 with the San Jose Sharks (51 games).
Petry made it 4-0 with Montreal's second power-play goal at 3:45 of the second period when his slow shot slid under the paddle of Berra's stick.

Rakell assisted on Perry's power-play goal at 8:32 to make it 4-1 and scored his 19th goal at 12:15 to make it 4-2.
Petry gave Montreal a 5-2 lead with his second power-play goal at 15:46 of the third period. The Canadiens went 3-for-7 with the man advantage.
"It was a big game for us," Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin said. "Every point is important for us. We didn't play a bad game but they capitalized on their chances, especially on the power play. Niemi really kept them in the game."

Goal of the game

Schlemko's goal at 10:13 of the first period.

Save of the game

Niemi's save on Andrew Cogliano at 4:47 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Morrow's goal at 8:17 of the first period.

They said it

"The most disappointing part for me was our inability to mount more of a comeback. We started to play a little bit more of a grind game, which is necessary. And they just sat back in the third and we played into their hands. We just allowed them to retrieve pucks ahead of us and we got frustrated." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle
"It is nice to get some positive results. I think our guys have been working hard to try to try and get those results, and hopefully we can move on from this afternoon and think about tomorrow afternoon and continue to do that work that we're looking to do and come up with the wins."-- Canadiens coach Claude Julien

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Need to know

Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin left the game in the second period after taking a Karl Alzner shot to the ribs. Tests on Drouin revealed no damage and he will be re-evaluated Sunday, Julien said.

What's next

Ducks:At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NHL.TV)