Meier, Sharks pull away from Canadiens

Timo Meier scored twice and Marc-Edouard Vlasic added a goal and an assist as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 Tuesday night in Montreal.



Meier's two goals 1:23 apart late in the second period and early in the third gave San Jose a three-goal lead.



The Sharks rebounded nicely from a 6-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday. San Jose now is 7-2-2 in its last 11 games.



San Jose goalie Aaron Dell finished with 30 saves while winning his sixth consecutive start.



Joe Thornton scored the other San Jose goal and Kevin Labanc added two assists.



Montreal's struggles continued as the Canadiens lost their fifth consecutive game in their first home contest since Dec. 14.



Thornton gave San Jose an early lead thanks to a fortunate bounce and some quick stickwork in the first period.



Teammate Justin Braun fired a shot that sailed wide and past Montreal goalie Carey Price. The puck then hit Thornton, standing to Price's left and just behind the goalie. The puck fell to the ice, and Thornton quickly shoved it into the net for a 1-0 lead with 7:03 remaining. Vlasic picked up the second assist.



Vlasic made it 2-0 with his second-period goal by finishing off a two-on-one with Mikkel Boedker.



Boedker raced up the right wing and fired a shot that Price stopped, but the puck slid to the left, and Vlasic put it away with 8:33 remaining in the period. Labanc earned the other assist.



Montreal's Andrew Shaw cut the deficit to 2-1 on a power-play goal with 3:53 left in the middle period. The Canadiens had a two-man advantage, and Shaw scored on a wrist shot with Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk getting the assists.



Meier then put the Sharks in command with his two quick goals. He first scored on a power play with 10 seconds remaining in the period with assists from Labanc -- on a diagonal pass -- and Chris Tierney.



Meier then stretched the lead to 4-1 on a wrist shot just 1:13 into the third period thanks to assists from Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns.



Price made 29 saves.



--Field Level Media