Brendan Gallagher scored twice, and his Montreal Canadiens teammates added three goals in the second period on the way to a 6-3 victory over the struggling Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Charles Hudon and Andrew Shaw scored 43 seconds apart for the Canadiens, who have won four games in a row. Alex Galchenyuk also scored for Montreal in the second, and Max Pacioretty added a goal in the third to help Claude Julien to his 100th win as Canadiens coach.
Anthony Mantha, Tomas Tatar and Frans Nielsen scored for Detroit. The Red Wings have lost six straight, although three of those defeats were in overtime.
Detroit led 2-1 in the second when the puck came to Hudon after a scramble in front. He lifted it past goalie Jimmy Howard for the tying goal. Moments later, Shaw took a pass from Phillip Danault and beat Howard with a wrist shot.
Galchenyuk made it 4-2 late in the second.
Gallagher scored both his goals on deflections in front and has 12 on the season. His second goal of the night made it 5-2 in the third, and Pacioretty added a power-play goal later in the period.
Nielsen's goal came on the power play as well and made it 6-3.
Gallagher gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal in the first, but Mantha answered 64 seconds later with his 12th of the season. Tatar put Detroit up 2-1 with a power-play goal, beating Carey Price with a wrist shot from the left circle.
The four-game winning streak is Montreal's longest of the season. The Canadiens were in an early hole thanks to a seven-game skid in October, but this victory moved them into third place in the Atlantic Division.
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The Canadiens and Red Wings play the back end of their home-and-home series in Montreal on Saturday night.
