Oliver Kapanen scored his 20th of the season as the Montreal Canadiens held on for a 3-1 win and handed the Toronto Maple Leafs their eighth consecutive loss on Tuesday night.
Phillip Danault also scored, while Jake Evans added an empty-net goal for Montreal (35-18-10). Jakub Dobes made 17 saves.
William Nylander replied for struggling Toronto (27-27-11), which is on track to miss the playoffs after nine consecutive trips to the post-season.
Joseph Woll stopped 30 shots in a solid outing.
The Maple Leafs entered the night 11 points outside the playoffs and 13 behind the Canadiens, who held the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Kapanen opened the scoring 4:46 into the first period, finishing a slick passing play with Ivan Demidov and Alex Newhook with a deke from the goal line. Demidov held off two Maple Leafs in the corner before sending the puck to Newhook, who fed Kapanen down low.
Danault then capitalized on a fortuitous bounce to put the Canadiens up 2-0 at 14:41 as Kaiden Guhle’s dump-in ricocheted off the glass and rolled in front of the Maple Leafs’ net, gifting the veteran centre his fifth of the season.
Nylander buried his 22nd from a give-and-go with Easton Cowan, putting Toronto on the board at 14:33 in the second after Dobes’ flurry of saves kept it a two-goal game with the Leafs pressing.