Habs fall to Stars to suffer first loss at home

The Montreal Canadiens saw their perfect record at home snapped as they fell to the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

The game got off to a physical start, and the Canadiens got an early chance to on the powerplay 90 seconds into the game when Luke Glendenning was called for tripping, but the visitors managed to kill the penalty.

A couple of minutes later, Dallas took the early 1-0 lead as Joe Pavelski squeaked a puck past Jake Allen on the powerplay with Brendan Gallagher in the box for interference. Ten minutes into the game, the Stars were outshooting the Habs 8-2.

At this point of the game, with six minutes left in the first frame, the Canadiens were throwing everything at the net, but Jake Oettinger stood his ground and made some key saves. Two minutes later, the Habs tied the game as Mike Hoffman put in a loose puck for his first of the season.

It didn’t take long for the visitors to regain the lead in the second period as less than 20 seconds in, Pavelski scored his second of the game with a one-timer from in close. Things get worse for Montreal as, on the ensuing play, Gallagher went hard into the boards and hobbled off in pain.

The Stars doubled their lead on the powerplay a couple of minutes later as Jason Robertson found a loose puck at the side of the net and buried it past Allen. The Canadiens got within one with four minutes left in the second period as Arber Xhekaj beat Oettinger for his first NHL goal with a shot from the point.

With 16 seconds left on the clock, the Stars went up 4-2 as Esa Lindell beat Allen with another quick shot to regain the two-goal lead, and once again, the Habs went into the locker room down two goals with 20 minutes to go.

Seven minutes into the third period Pavelski completed his hat trick as he split the defense and beat Allen once again to make it 5-2. That was enough for the visitors to secure the win and snap the Canadiens perfect home record.

The Canadiens will be back in action on Tuesday night as they will host the Minnesota Wild at the Bell Centre in their final game of a five-game homestand.

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