Lars Eller Goal: Canadiens Center Caps 5-Point Game With Amazing Penalty Shot (VIDEO)
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MONTREAL -- Lars Eller had four goals and an assist, Travis Moen had three assists, and the Montreal Canadiens bounced back from a poor road trip with a 7-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.
Eller scored his fourth goal of the game on a penalty shot 11 minutes into the third, spinning around to beat Chris Mason for his third tally of the period. He did a backward somersault over the Winnipeg goalie to the delight of the sold-out crowd of 21,273.
Montreal, which went 1-5 on the trip, won for the second time in nine games – the last eight since interim coach Randy Cunneyworth took over for the fired Jacques Martin on Dec. 17.
Josh Gorges, Tomas Kaberle and Michael Cammalleri also scored for the Canadiens, who improved to 6-7-6 at home. Carey Price made 24 saves. Andrei Kostitsyn and Erik Cole each had two assists.
Blake Wheeler had a goal and an assist, including a power-play tally 17:51 into the second to draw Winnipeg within 3-2. Tim Stapleton's sixth goal gave the Jets a 1-0 lead 3:41 in. Andrew Ladd scored the Jets' final goal with 6:57 left.
Ondrej Pavelec made 18 saves before he was replaced by Mason 6:49 into the third. Mason stopped six shots for Winnipeg, which had a three-game winning streak broken.
Gorges and Eller scored 43 seconds apart in the first as Montreal bounced back from Stapleton's early goal.
Gorges, who signed a six-year, $23.4 million contract extension on Monday, got Montreal even 13:24 in. The 27-year-old defenseman beat Pavelec with a shot from the point through traffic for his second goal of the season.
Eller made it 2-1 with his fifth goal at 14:07.
Kaberle made it a 3-1 lead 5:32 into the second with a slap shot past Pavelec for his first goal in 49 games, dating to last season.
Eller scored his second of the game 2:41 into the third and Cammalleri made it 5-2 with his ninth at 3:03.
The Canadiens got their third goal in 50 seconds when Eller completed his first NHL hat trick at 3:31, beating Pavelec with a shot from the right edge of the crease that put Montreal up 6-2.
Referee Marcus Vinnerborg awarded Eller a penalty shot after the 22-year-old Danish center was tied up by former Montreal defenseman Ron Hainsey on a breakaway.
Eller went wide to the right as he came in on Pavelec before spinning around in the crease. He become the first Canadiens player to score four goals in a game since Jan Bulis did it at Philadelphia on Jan. 25, 2006.
NOTES: Wheeler has three goals and two assists in three games against Montreal this season. ... Kaberle, who began the season with Carolina, hadn't scored since March 24 for Boston in a 7-0 win over the Canadiens.
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01/ 4/12 10:32 PM ET Associated Press