Filip Chytil had two goals and Chris Kreider and Braden Schneider also scored to lift the New York Rangers to a 4-1 victory over the host Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Jaroslav Halak, starting in place of Igor Shesterkin, made 17 saves for the Rangers, who won their third straight game.

Joel Armia scored and Jake Allen made 27 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost seven straight games, with the past six in regulation.

After neither team scored during an evenly-played opening period during which the Rangers outshot the Canadiens 6-4, New York struck while the Canadiens were on the power play midway through the second period.

Kreider corralled a loose puck near the red line and scored a short-handed breakaway goal by wristing a shot past Allen for a 1-0 lead at the 7:43 mark of the period.

The Rangers doubled their lead less than five minutes later. After receiving a pass from Vitali Kravtsov, Artemi Panarin found Schneider, who slapped a shot past Allen from just inside the blue line at the 12:28 mark.

New York put the game away 59 seconds later. Ryan Lindgren slipped a pass to Chytil, who spun and wristed a shot by Allen for a 3-0 lead, with Jimmy Vesey also assisting on the play.

The Canadiens avoided the shutout when Armia scored his first goal of the season off assists from Arber Xhekaj and Jake Evans with 5:14 left in the game.

Chytil capped the win with an empty-net, power-play goal off assists from Adam Fox and K'Andre Miller with 1:10 left.

The Rangers outshot the Canadiens 31-18.

The Rangers end their two-game road trip on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils before opening a three-game homestand. New York hosts the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday before welcoming the Dallas Stars on Thursday and the Canadiens on Jan. 15.

Montreal continues its four-game homestand against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday before hosting the Seattle Kraken on Monday and the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

--Field Level Media