NEW YORK — Cole Caufield scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Sam Montembeault made 38 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Caufield converted a pass from captain Nick Suzuki at 8:56 of the final period for the decisive goal. Caufield leads the Canadiens with 26 goals and has scored in seven of Montreal’s last eight games.

Kirby Dach also scored for Montreal, which was coming off a 2-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday. The Canadiens have four wins in their last 16 games. They are 4-11-1 since Dec. 12.

Montembeault denied a point-blank chance by Panarin with four minutes to go, and he made 13 saves in the third period to improve to 8-7-2 this season.

Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers, who had won five of their last six games and had points in seven-straight, with a 5-0-2 mark. They hadn’t lost in regulation since dropping a 4-0 decision at home against Washington on Dec. 27.

New York is still 6-2-2 in its last 10 games and 13-3-2 since Dec. 5.

CANUCKS 4, HURRICANES 3: Elias Pettersson scored on the final attempt in the shootout as Vancouver beat Carolina to avoided a winless five-game trip.

Ethan Bear, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser scored in regulation for the Canucks, who went 1-4-0 in five road games. Boeser’s goal with 17 seconds left in regulation forced overtime. Collin Delia stopped 29 shots.

Sebastian Aho scored with 2:52 remaining in regulation to break a tie for the Hurricanes. Paul Stastny and Jordan Martinook scored in the first period for Carolina, which squandered a two-goal lead at home for the second time in a week. Pyotr Kochetkov made 29 saves and slipped to 0-3-1 in four games since winning on Dec. 20.

Andrei Kuzmenko converted on Vancouver’s first shootout attempt. After Andrei Svechnikov evened it for Carolina, Pettersson sealed the win.

The Hurricanes appeared in good shape after Aho scored his 14th of the season for a 3-2 lead at 17:08 of the third. The Canucks pulled Delia and tied the game on Boeser’s goal.

JETS 2, COYOTES 1: Blake Wheeler’s goal in the second period proved to be the winner as  Winnipeg beat Arizona and dealt the Coyotes their ninth straight loss in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for the Jets, who have won three straight and improved to 8-1-0 in their last nine. Connor Hellebuyck made 20 saves for Winnipeg, which has won five straight home games.

Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, who were coming off a 2-1 loss to Minnesota on Saturday night. Karel Vejmelka stopped 22 shots for Arizona, which last lost nine straight in regulation in October-November 2021. The Coyotes also have a 13-game winless streak on the road (0-11-2).

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