Sharks sink Montreal in 4-1 decision Habs drop fifth straight

In front of a tough crowd to play, the Sharks’ Aaron Dell made 30 saves to backstop San Jose to a 4-1 win over the Canadiens in Montreal.

The loss was the Habs’ fifth straight, the third time they have accomplished ignominious

Aaron Dell made 30 saves in 4-1 win over Montreal Tuesday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

feat this season.

Montreal squandered three power play opportunities in the opening frame.

Marc-Edouard Vlasicand and Joe Thornton scored for San Jose.

“Good penalty kill,” Vlasic said. “One of the best penalty kills in the League, and it got us momentum going into the second.”

The Sharks were led by Timo Meier who struck for two goals in the win.

“Yeah, we were pretty good, other than taking too many penalties, but I thought we created a lot,” Sharks center Logan Couture said. “We went into the neutral zone with a lot of speed, carrying the puck into their end. I think we had them on their heels for most of the night.”

Andrew Shaw scored the lone goal for Montreal on the power play.

“We had the opportunity there to get back into it, but just weren’t able to,” Max Pacioretty said. “I think the compete level and the battles were just unacceptable.”

The loss dropped the Canadiens to 16-20-4 on the season.

Over the current five-game skid, the Habs have scored a total of four goals and that will not get ti done or get them out of the also-ran contingent in the Eastern Conference.

“We’re in that situation, you know, nobody put us there except for ourselves, and I agree it’s tough,” Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. “So this is where it’s important for guys to have the confidence to go out there and do the job properly and do the little jobs that they have to do and realize how important it is to do everything well.”

[WATCH: All Sharks vs. Canadiens highlights]

Carey Price made 29 saves in taking the loss.

“There’s a lot of things we have to be better at, but when you go through something like that you have to start from the base. You have to do the little things right to help each other and play for each other. And it seems like right now we’re trying to do too many things,” the Canadiens’ Tomas Plekanec said after the loss.