Oliver Kapanen scored his twentieth of the season because the Montreal Canadiens held on for a 3-1 win and handed the Toronto Maple Leafs their eighth consecutive loss on Tuesday night time.
Phillip Danault additionally scored, whereas Jake Evans added an empty-net aim for Montreal (35-18-10). Jakub Dobes made 17 saves.
William Nylander replied for struggling Toronto (27-27-11), which is on observe to overlook the playoffs after 9 consecutive journeys to the post-season.
Joseph Woll stopped 30 pictures in a stable outing.
The Maple Leafs entered the night time 11 factors outdoors the playoffs and 13 behind the Canadiens, who held the second wild-card spot within the Japanese Convention.
Kapanen opened the scoring 4:46 into the primary interval, ending a slick passing play with Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook with a deke from the aim line. Demidov held off two Maple Leafs within the nook earlier than sending the puck to Newhook, who fed Kapanen down low.
Danault then capitalized on a fortuitous bounce to place the Canadiens up 2-0 at 14:41 as Kaiden Guhle’s dump-in ricocheted off the glass and rolled in entrance of the Maple Leafs’ internet, gifting the veteran centre his fifth of the season.
Nylander buried his twenty second from a give-and-go with Easton Cowan, placing Toronto on the board at 14:33 within the second after Dobes’ flurry of saves saved it a two-goal recreation with the Leafs urgent.