Kaapo Kahkonen perfect as Sharks start trip with win

MONTREAL — Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture both scored third-period goals and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen led a brilliant penalty kill as the San Jose Sharks opened a four-game road trip with a 4-0 win Tuesday over the Canadiens

The Sharks, with the NHL’s best penalty kill, erased all six Canadiens power plays, including a 5-on-3 two-man advantage that expired early in the third period. Kahkonen finished with 28 saves, including four on the penalty kill, as he earned the third shutout of his NHL career.

Thirty-one seconds after Jaycob Megna’s delay-of-game penalty ended, Hertl scored his sixth of the season at the 2:29 mark of the third period, as he redirected a pass from Kevin Labanc past Canadiens goalie Jake Allen for a 2-0 Sharks lead.

Couture scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season on a breakaway, giving him nine goals this month, matching a career-high for one calendar month that he set in Dec. 2011.

Hertl scored an empty-net goal with 2:14 left in the third period and Matt Nieto scored in the first period as the Sharks (8-13-4) won for just the second time in their past seven games.

The night, though, belonged to Kahkonen, who earned his first shutout since March 16, 2021, when he made 31 saves in a 3-0 win by the Minnesota Wild over the Arizona Coyotes.

Nieto’s goal, his fifth of the season, came just 1:33 into the first period as Alexander Barabanov took a pass from Couture near the blue line and went around the net with the puck before he tried a wraparound attempt on Allen. Nieto was near the play and got enough of the loose puck to get over the goal line for a 1-0 Sharks lead.

Kahkonen would have to do his best work to keep the Sharks in the lead, as he stopped 14 shots through two periods, with three saves coming on five Montreal power plays.

The Sharks’ road trip continues with games in Toronto on Wednesday, Ottawa on Saturday, and Buffalo on Sunday.