Montreal’s Kirby Dach scores against Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy during the first period of the Canadiens’ 2-0 win on Tuesday in Montreal. Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP

MONTREAL — Kirby Dach and Jonathan Drouin scored in the first period and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Mike Matheson also scored for the Canadiens, who had lost six of their previous seven – including a 5-3 defeat at Tampa Bay on Saturday. Sam Montembault stopped 31 shots to improve to 14-14-3 on the season.

Brayden Point and Pat Maroon had goals for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 17 saves. The Lightning have lost two straight since winning four of five.

Dach got the Canadiens on the scoreboard 8:27 into the game as his shot from the slot hit Vasilevskiy’s pads and slowly trickled across the goal line. It was Dach’s 13th of the season.

Drouin made it 2-0 as he skated through the left circle, got a pass from Denis Gurianov and quickly scored for his second.

Point scored on a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Steven Stamkos at 8:58 of the second to get the Lightning on the scoreboard. It was Point’s 44th.

Matheson restored Montreal’s two-goal lead as his shot from the left point got through traffic in front and past Vasilevskiy with 3:02 remaining in the middle period.

The Lightning pulled to 3-2 with 5:06 left in the third when Ross Colton’s centering pass for Corey Perry deflected off Canadiens defenseman Justin Barron’s left skate to Maroon at the right doorstep and he tapped it in for his third.

PREDATORS 7, SABRES 3:  Luke Evangelista scored twice in a span of 39 seconds as part of a four-goal second-period surge, and visiting Nashville became the latest team to rout reeling Buffalo.

Matt Duchene also scored twice, including an empty-netter, to give him 21 goals on the season. Tommy Novak, Philip Tomasino and defenseman Ryan McDonagh – in his first game after missing four with an upper body injury – had a goal an assist each.

HURRICANES 3, RANGERS 2: Teuvo Teravainen scored tiebreaking goal late in the third period, Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots and Carolina rallied to beat the Rangers in New York.

Jalen Chatfield and Stefan Noesen also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, who won for the third time in four games.

Tyler Motte and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers, who had won four straight were 6-0-1 in their last seven. Igor Shesterkin finished with 36 saves.

FLYERS 6, PANTHERS 3: Travis Sanheim scored twice, Carter Hart made 41 saves and Philadelphia won at home

Joel Farabee added a goal and an assist, and Scott Laughton and Ivan Provorov also scored for the Flyers. Philadelphia won for just the fifth time in 16 games.

Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist, and Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida. The Panthers had won three in a row and six of seven before falling to the lowly Flyers.

BLUE JACKETS 7, CAPITALS 6: Boone Jenner tied it with 46.9 seconds left in the third period, Jack Roslovic scored the overtime winner for his second goal of the game and NHL-worst Columbus rallied to a win in Washington.

The Blue Jackets ended a three-game losing streak and dealt Washington another blow in its longshot bid to make the playoffs. The Capitals sit five points back of the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 10 games left to play.

With Darcy Kuemper still out because of injury, Charlie Lindgren allowed seven goals on 39 shots in his second consecutive start. The Capitals blew a 3-0 lead with the loss spoiling the celebration of captain Alex Ovechkin for reaching second on the career goals list.

WILD 2, DEVILS 1: Matt Boldy scored with 1.3 seconds left in overtime and Filip Gustavsson made a career-high 47 saves to give Minnesota a victory over the Devils in Newark, New Jersey.

The game was a chippy, defensive struggle. After two scoreless periods, the Devils were outshooting the Wild 22-19.

ISLANDERS 7, MAPLE LEAFS 2: Cal Clutterbuck had two goals and an assist as New York got all its scoring in the last two periods in a win over Toronto in New York.

Anders Lee and Noah Dobson each had a goal and an assist, and Zach Parise, Hudson Fasching and Simon Holmstrom also scored to help the Islanders win their third straight and improve to 7-2-1 in their last 10. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had two assists and Ilya Sorokin finished with 24 saves.

New York moved three points ahead of Florida for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers lost 6-3 at Philadelphia.

NOTES

AVALANCHE: Coach Jared Bednar has signed a three-year extension that will keep him in charge of the reigning Stanley Cup champions through the 2026-27 season.

The new deal for the winningest head coach in club history kicks in once the current contract runs out after the 2023-24 season.

Bednar, 51, is the only person to win championships in the ECHL, AHL and NHL as head coach. He directed the Avalanche to their third Stanley Cup title in team history last season by beating Tampa Bay, the two-time defending champions.

This season, the Avalanche have dealt with an array of injuries, which include missing captain Gabriel Landeskog all year after he underwent knee surgery in October.