Montreal: The Winnipeg Jets spoiled Claude Julien’s return to Montreal by beating the Canadiens 3-1 in the NHL on Saturday.
The Canadiens fired coach Michel Therrien on Tuesday and hired Julien in hopes of getting their season back on track. Julien also coached Montreal from 2003-06.
But Julien’s first game back was more of the same for the first-place Canadiens, who have lost three in a row and seven of eight.
Patrik Laine and Mathieu Perreault each had a goal and an assist for the Jets. Joel Armia also scored, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 shots. The Jets had dropped five of six.
Perreault made it 2-1 just 1:16 into the third period. Laine added an empty-netter at 18:43. Andrei Markov scored for Montreal, and Carey Price had 31 saves.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, Jason Zucker scored two goals and added an assist as Minnesota beat Nashville 5-2. Mikael Granlund and Mikko Koivu each had a goal and assist, and Eric Staal also scored as the Western Conference-leading Wild surpassed last season’s total with their 39th win. Devan Dubnyk made 37 saves.
Minnesota, which is 6-1-1 in its past eight games, has a nine-point lead over Chicago in the Central Division and is one point behind Washington for the most points in the NHL. The Wild are 12-1-3 in their last 16 games against division foes.
Colin Wilson and P.K. Subban scored for Nashville, which played for the first time after its mandatory five-day break.
Since becoming a line on Nov. 25, Zucker, Koivu and Granlund have combined for 110 points. The Wild are 29-6-4 since then.
Cam Talbot made 38 saves and Connor McDavid scored his 20th goal as the Oilers earned their third straight win (3-1). Matt Benning and Milan Lucic also scored in the opener of Edmonton’s season-high six-game road trip. McDavid, who leads the NHL in points, fired into an empty net with 27 seconds left.
Chicago had won five straight — all on the road. It was its first home game since January 26.
Richard Panik scored and Corey Crawford made 19 saves for the Blackhawks, who were coming off a 5-1 victory at Edmonton last Saturday in their final game before their bye week.
Brent Burns scored two goals while Aaron Dell had a career-high 36 saves as San Jose beat Arizona 4-1 for the first time this season.
The Sharks bounced back from a slow start in their last game by scoring two goals in the first period and another early in the second. Dell was sharp in his 11th start of the season, and the Pacific Division-leading Sharks were good in front of him to avoid a season sweep (1-3-1) by the last-place Coyotes.
Melker Karlsson had a goal and two assists, and Micheal Haley had a goal and an assist for San Jose.
Martin Hanzal scored his fifth goal in five games and Mike Smith stopped 29 shots for Arizona.
