Martin Jones makes 39 saves, Sharks beat Canadiens 3-1

MONTREAL -- Martin Jones stopped the Montreal Canadiens -- and the San Jose Sharks' four-game skid.

Jones made 40 saves -- 22 shots in the third period alone -- to help the Sharks beat the Canadiens 3-1 on Sunday night. Justin Braun, Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski scored for San Jose.

"We did a great job of eliminating those Grade-A chances and those odd-man rushes that have been causing us some problems," Jones said. "It was much better tonight."

Jones improved to 7-1-0 in his career against Montreal.

Jeff Petry scored for Montreal, and Carey Price made 26 saves. The Canadiens dropped to 12-10-5 overall and fell to 1-3-0 on their current five-game homestand.

"They were the better team in the first period," Petry said. "We got better but that's something we need to do from the start. We've won one in our last seven so there's no reason we shouldn't be desperate as well to get points and move up in the standings. We need to go out and dictate the pace."

Both teams played Saturday, with the Canadiens downing the New York Rangers, and the Sharks falling in Ottawa. The Sharks have won seven straight and 11 of their last 12 against Montreal.

"They capitalized on a couple of early opportunities in the first period and that's on us," Max Domi said. "But when you run into a goalie like that, and he's seeing everything, you have to make it hard for him. We managed to do that on Petry's goal. Just not quite enough."

San Jose opened the scoring at 2:55 of the first, with Braun beating Price after a bad giveaway by Petry in his own end. With San Jose on a 5-on-3 advantage, Burns made it 2-0 with a wrist shot from the slot at 10:29 of the first to extend his points streak to four games.

Petry made up for his earlier turnover when he scored at 12:15 of the second. Just moments after shooting the puck off Jones' mask, the Canadiens defenseman got his stick on a pass from Jonathan Drouin for his third of the season.

Pavelski capped off a give-and-go with Burns and Logan Couture to make it 3-1 at 15:51 of the second, the Sharks captain's team-leading 17th goal of the season.

"They came back and got one but there wasn't the sense of panic for us tonight," Pavelski said. "Jones was fabulous. He did a good job."

Game notes

Former first-round pick Nikita Scherbak is no longer with the Canadiens after being claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. ... Andrew Shaw assisted on Petry's goal for his 200th career NHL point.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Host Carolina on Wednesday night.

Canadiens: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night.

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