MONTREAL — Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour and his serpentine teammates came to this city hoping to play more aggressively and rediscover the offense that had recently disappeared.

And they got plenty of offense on Tuesday night, though it’s doubtful Montour expected his team to score the quickest four-touchdown from the first kickoff in team history at the midway point of the first quarter. Nor was Montour likely to have foreseen that five of the goals in this 8-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens would come from defensemen, three by himself for the third “hat trick” in franchise history, and the others by Jamie Oleksiak and Ryker. Evans.

Montour also made an assist and finished the night with four points. Chandler Stephenson got four points, all assists, while Jaden Schwartz finished the night with three points. Three defensemen scoring in a game was a Kraken franchise record, as were the blueliners’ five total goals; Montour’s four points broke the Kraken points held by Vince Dunn.

It’s been a long time since Kraken has enjoyed a pushover style game like this. Oleksiak and Evans scored on their first two shots of the night against Montreal’s passable goaltender Sam Motembeault, followed by two more shots from Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand as the Kraken took just its eighth shot.

Bjorkstrand’s goal at 10:33, a nifty steal from behind the net and a forward pass from Schwartz, was the best of the four and gave Kraken goalkeeper Joey Daccord a lead he could use as he made his third straight start. Montreal got a point from Cole Caufield near the end of the period, but Montour scored the first two goals in the Kraken’s 10 early in the second period.^This shot of the night to chase down Motembeault in favor of backup goaltender Cayden Primeau.

But the goals kept coming when Montour headed towards goal a few minutes later and grabbed his own rebound from a beautiful diagonal pass from Oleksiak. The assist was Oleksiak’s second point of the night, while Schwartz assisted on his third point.

While eight goals was as many as the Kraken had scored in their last four games combined, it was hard to tell how much of that was due to their work against the struggles of Montreal’s starting goaltender. Motembeault had four points for the second time in 10 days in the opening period of the New York Rangers’ win at Bell Center a few Saturdays ago.

Still, the result was more than welcome by the Kraken, who improved to 5-4-1 to begin a grueling five-city road trip. Kraken coach Dan Bylsma went through some heavy-duty drills here on Monday, highlighting many one-on-one physical encounters designed to bring out their competitiveness.

And the Kraken actually went in front of the Montreal goal with a purpose from the beginning. Oleksiak’s goal came just 25 seconds into the match, with a fairly harmless puck thrown towards the goal over the skate of a defender trapped in front of the net by Eeli Tolvanen.

And a few minutes later, Evans’ goal came with a 24-yard wrist shot from the same left spot, through a partial screen from Matty Beniers, and into the net.

Schwartz made it 3-0 on the power play and received a one-time pass from Chandler Stephenson; He also made a nice end-to-end run and ended up behind Montreal’s goal before centering the puck backwards. at the front.

Montour’s third goal was a power play in the third period, a one-timer Jared McCann pass into the right circle. It was the first “hat-trick” for a Kraken defender and the first hat trick of Montour’s career; McCann previously scored three goals at home to Jordan Eberle in November 2021 and in Chicago in January 2023.

Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson reacted from the bench as Montour’s third goal was scored, throwing his helmet onto the ice in a celebratory gesture typically performed by fans throwing hats and caps from the stands.