Kucherov increased it to 3-0 at 17:12 when he one-timed a shot from the right circle into an open right side.
Charle-Edouard D’Astous made it 4-0 at 2:43 of the second. The defenseman, who is from Rimouski, Quebec, and had about 50 family members and friends on hand for his first game in Montreal, finished the game plus-5.
“It’s a great feeling scoring a goal here in Montreal in front of my friends and family,” D’Astous said. “It’s a childhood dream for Quebecers to be able to play at Bell Centre and score. It’s a really great feeling.”
Kapanen cut it to 4-1 at 19:06. He batted the puck into an open net after Nick Suzuki’s shot from the left circle hit both posts.
“I liked our start, for sure,” said Suzuki, the Montreal captain. “I thought we generated a lot early on and then we gave up two breakaway goals, and then the third one there. And when you give a team like that a 3-0 lead it’s definitely tough to come back, and it definitely wasn’t the start we needed for sure.”
Raddysh extended the lead to 5-1 at 1:22 of the third period when he scored on a wrist shot over Montembeault’s right shoulder from a sharp angle on the right side.
Raddysh then pushed it to 6-1 with a power-play goal at 8:41. He scored from the point off a face-off win, giving him his second NHL multigoal game in his 200th game.
“It’s a special night,” Raddysh said, “but I’m just fortunate to play in the NHL and get to do it here at the Bell Centre.”
NOTES: Lightning forward Jake Guentzel (assist) got his 600th NHL point (282 goals, 318 assists) in his 630th game. He is the sixth active American player to reach the mark in fewer than 700 games (Auston Matthews, 527 games; Patrick Kane, 604; Jack Eichel, 607; Matthew Tkachuk, 611; Kyle Connor, 628). … Suzuki had an assist to give him 25 in 29 games this season, becoming the fastest Canadiens player with that many since Saku Koivu had 25 assists through 28 games in 1996-97. … Montreal recalled goalie Jacob Fowler, defenseman Adam Engstrom and forward Owen Beck from Laval of the American Hockey League after the game.
