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SAN JOSE -- Backup goaltender Alex Stalock made 20 saves and Ben Smith scored a goal in his debut with the San Jose Sharks, helping them to a 4-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens at SAP Center on Monday.
The Sharks ended their eight-game home losing streak, which was one shy of matching their record set in San Jose's second season from Nov. 19-Dec. 19 in 1992. The Sharks have won their past eight games against the Canadiens in San Jose.
Joe Pavelski, Matt Irwin and Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks (31-25-8), who have 70 points and pulled even with the third-place Calgary Flames and fourth-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division. The Sharks remained in fifth place because the Flames and Kings have two games in hand.
The shutout was Stalock's second of the season and fourth of his career.
The Sharks ended Montreal's four-game winning streak and goaltender Carey Price's franchise record 10-game road winning streak. Price made 33 saves.
Stalock ended his three-game losing streak and won for the first time since Jan. 6 against the Minnesota Wild.
Montreal (41-17-5), which leads the Eastern Conference with 87 points, had 13 shots through two periods and was outshot 37-20 for the game.
The Sharks outshot Montreal 14-8 in the first period and built a 2-0 lead on goals by Smith and Pavelski.
Smith came to the Sharks on Monday morning from the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade for forward Andrew Desjardins and quickly paid dividends. He put San Jose ahead 1-0 at 6:51 of the opening period, scoring his first goal as a Shark and ending a 28-game drought.
Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic fired a low shot from the point, and Smith tipped the puck past Price for his second point in 29 games and first since an assist against the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 27.
Smith centered the third line with Tomas Hertl and Tommy Wingels and got some time on the second power-play unit.
Pavelski extended San Jose's lead with 47 seconds left in the first period with his 17th power-play goal and 32nd of the season.
Defenseman Brent Burns sent a shot from the point into traffic and Pavelski redirected the puck toward Price. The puck hit the left post, caromed off of Price and trickled toward the goal line. Price kicked it over the line with his left skate.
After a long video review, the Situation Room confirmed that Pavelski's stick was at or below the level of the crossbar when he made contact with the puck.
Irwin made it 3-0 at 6:48 of the third period, beating a screened Price with a slap shot from the blue line for his seventh goal of the season. Tommy Wingels and Smith had the assists.
The Canadiens nearly broke through at 12:05 of the third when a diving David Desharnais sent a sharp-angled shot behind Stalock. But Burns got his stick on the puck and swept it away before it completely crossed the goal line.
Marleau scored a power-play goal at 13:07 to make it 4-0. Marleau extended his goal streak to three games and he has four goals over his past five games.
Defenseman Jeff Petry made his debut for Montreal, hours after being traded by the Edmonton Oilers to the Canadiens.
Canadiens forward PA Parenteau returned to the lineup after missing 19 games with a concussion.
Sharks rookie defenseman Mirco Mueller was in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for six straight games.
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