Cole Caufield scored for a third straight game for the Canadiens (4-5-1), who had won two in a row. Sam Montembeault made five saves on 10 shots before being replaced at 1:32 of the second period by Cayden Primeau, who stopped 10 of 13 shots in relief.
“We have a tough time with Tuesdays,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said of the Canadiens, who lost 7-2 to the New York Rangers a week earlier. “It’s a tough game to evaluate, I’ll need to have a look at it because the first goal, that was a face-off loss where we didn’t do our job, so we give them a shot that hit (Canadiens defenseman Mike) Matheson. The second goal, we don’t block a shot and it ends up in the net.
“The third goal, we’re short-handed. The fourth goal is a turnover. The fifth goal, we’re short-handed again. When you start a game like that, is it bad luck? Not really. We didn’t do our job on a face-off. But I felt like we still tried in the first, it felt like we pushed back a bit. But the fifth goal hurt.”
Jamie Oleksiak scored just 25 seconds into the first period to give Seattle a 1-0 lead. His shot from beyond the top of the left face-off circle went in off Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson.
Ryker Evans made it 2-0 at 3:49 when his shot from the point hit off Josh Anderson and got by Montembeault.
“The first one, it was going to my right, I think it hit ‘Matty’ and it hit the ice after and went over my pad,” Montembeault said. “The second one, I saw it leave and then it went across a few bodies, and I lost it on the way there. After that, two one-timers from the slot and the fifth one, obviously I’ve got to save that.”
Schwartz’s power-play goal at 7:27 extended it to 3-0, and Oliver Bjorkstrand pushed it to 4-0 at 10:33.
“I think a lot of it was just getting pucks to the net,” Oleksiak said. “I think Ryker, ‘Monty,’ myself, we got some point-shot goals there and I think getting forwards to the net, getting in the goalie’s eyes was a huge part of it.”
Caufield cut it to 4-1 at 16:11 with his ninth goal in 10 games off an assist from Juraj Slafkovsky, who returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
Montour made it 5-1 at 1:32 of the second period with a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the point through traffic. He extended it to 6-1 with his second straight goal at 8:44 with a backhand on a rebound of his initial shot on Primeau.
Montour completed the natural hat trick at 14:12 of the third period for a 7-1 lead with a one-timer from the left face-off dot. Eeli Tolvanen pushed it to 8-1 at 15:14.
“I think we came out hot,” Montour said. “Obviously it’s nice to get one early, get a few early, and then I think we just kept rolling. I think the energy level was good.”
Anderson scored at 15:28 for the 8-2 final.
NOTES: The Kraken set a franchise record for the fastest four goals to start a game at 10:33. Seattle scored four goals in the first 12:08 on Jan. 14, 2023, in an 8-5 win against the Chicago Blackhawks. The four goals were also the fastest to start an NHL game this season (New York Rangers in the first 11:05 on Oct. 22). … Kraken forward Jared McCann had two assists to tie his longest NHL point streak of seven games set last season. He has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during his current streak. … Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki’s seven-game point streak (three goals, eight assists) ended.
