Sharks end 12-game losing streak with win against Canadiens

MONTREAL -- The San Jose Sharks ended a 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Thursday.

“I feel relieved to get the win, and it was a pretty good performance from us,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “Obviously some things we could still do better, but it’s a little bit of weight off our shoulders for sure. It feels good.”

Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for his first road win of the season, and Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nikita Okhotiuk scored for San Jose (10-29-3), which ended the longest losing streak in the NHL since the Buffalo Sabres’ 14-game skid in 2014-15.

It was the Sharks' first win since Dec. 12 (2-1 against the Winnipeg Jets).

“It’s been a tough go here, a lot of good players in there and a lot of guys, a lot of character, that have fought through a lot of adversity,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “And it’s not easy to move past some of the things we’ve been through, but we did it tonight and got a huge win for ourselves.”

Mike Matheson had two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 32 saves for the Canadiens (17-18-6), who lost 3-2 in a shootout at the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.

“I don’t think that they took the game, by any means,” Matheson said. “I think what they got we gave to them. And even with that, I think we still had a chance to win, and so it’s frustrating to let those two points go.”

Kunin gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 5:19 of the first period. He shot past Montembeault stick side after Justin Bailey’s forecheck pressured Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble into making a blind backhand pass into the goalmouth from the right corner.

Zetterlund made it 2-0 at 17:25 with a one-timer from the bottom of the right face-off circle of Tomas Hertl’s backhand pass from behind the net.

Brendan Gallagher cut it to 2-1 at 17:46, one-timing Matheson’s feed from the slot.

Okhotiuk made it 3-1 at 16:44 of the second period. The defenseman pinched from the left point to take a pass from Mikael Granlund before snapping a shot under Montembeault’s right arm for his first goal of the season in his 29th game.

“For whatever reason, execution hasn’t been there the past few nights,” Gallagher said.

Josh Anderson drew Montreal within 3-2 at 16:26 of the third period when he deflected Matheson’s slap shot from the point with Montembeault pulled for an extra attacker.

Blackwood made three saves in the final two minutes, when the Canadiens attempted 10 shots with Montembeault on the bench again, four of which were blocked.

“I thought our start was just OK, and then I thought we got better and better as the game went on,” Quinn said. “And you don’t go through with what we’ve been through and all of a sudden feel great about yourself; you’ve got to earn it. And we started earning it shift after shift and that’s how we have to get out of this, and we took a big step today.”

San Jose has won eight straight in Montreal since a 2-0 loss on March 21, 2015.

“I don’t know if it was necessarily our opponent that caused us to play the way we did tonight,” Matheson said. “I think the fact of the matter is we just needed to be better.”

NOTES: The Sharks had four longer losing streaks, including a string of 17 in 1992-93, tying the 1974-75 Washington Capitals for the longest single-season losing streak in NHL history. … Matheson’s assist on Gallagher’s goal was his 200th NHL point. He has 201 points (64 goals, 137 assists) in 504 games with Montreal, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers.