VANCOUVER — Jeremiah Johnson marked his return to the lineup with a punishing performance, running for three touchdowns to lead the B.C. Lions to a 38-27 win Friday over the Montreal Alouettes.

It was a listless showing for Alouettes quarterback Rakeem Cato, who was given the start behind centre in an effort to spark the 3-8 team offensively. Instead, B.C.'s Johnson was dominant in his first contest since replacing Anthony Allen as the Lions tailback, running for a CFL season-high 159 yards on 16 carries.

B.C. took little time establishing a ground game and it paid dividends quickly.

Johnson's first carry on the opening play of scrimmage went for 23 yards. Two plays later Lions quarterback Jon Jennings found Emmanuel Arceneaux with a 25-yard touchdown throw.

Jennings drove the offence to a 12-yard touchdown run by Johnson to cap a six-play, 72 yard scoring drive on the second possession. On the Lions third drive, Johnson scored again on a one-yard run.

B.C. had a 21-3 lead early and was in full command. Cato engineered one Montreal drive only to settle for a short field goal by Anthony Fera, who started the season with the Lions.

Trailing by a large margin, the Alouettes also had to briefly abandon the ground attack led by Tyrell Sutton. However the league's defending rushing champion was Montreal's most dangerous offensive weapon, not receiver Duron Carter, who was playing his first game after serving a one-game suspension.

Cato last year led the Alouettes to only their second win in Vancouver in 15 meetings in 2015 but it seemed early as if there would not be a repeat performance.

It took the Als defence to provide their first spark. Linebacker Chip Cox scooped up a fumble by Lions receiver Geraldo Boldewijn and ran it 58 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter.

However, the Lions responded on the ensuing possession. Backup quarterback Travis Lulay ran in from a yard out to complete a drive stalled twice by Lions penalties and kept alive by a pair of long, second-down conversions.

Fera's four field goals accounted for all of Montreal's offensive output until there was only 4:11 left in the game when Cato found Nik Lewis on a 26-yard scoring strike.

The win pushed the Lions record to 8-3, surpassing last year's win total.

Montreal remains on the road next week with a game Aug. 16 in Hamilton. B.C. has a bye, returning to face Edmonton Aug. 23.