Captain Eric Staal collected two goals and assisted on defenseman Jamie McBain's go-ahead tally midway into the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes snapped the Montreal Canadiens' four-game winning streak with a 5-3 road triumph on Monday.

Jiri Tlusty netted his third goal in four games and former Canadiens defenseman Jaroslav Spacek also scored for Carolina, which saw Tuomo Ruutu leave the game in the first period with an upper body injury.

Former Hurricane Erik Cole and David Desharnais scored power-play goals nearly two minutes apart and Tomas Plekanec also tallied in the second period for Montreal, which remained seven points behind the eighth-place Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference.

After Staal leveled the contest 3:15 into the third period, his blast on a subsequent power play 5 1/2 minutes later hit the post. McBain cleaned up the loose puck and beat All-Star Carey Price for his fifth goal of the season.

Staal sealed the victory by scoring an empty-net goal with 36 seconds remaining.

Cam Ward made 15 of his 30 saves in the third period as the Hurricanes improved to 3-0-2 in their last five contests.

Montreal erased a two-goal deficit with three second-period goals - highlighted by Cole burning his former team by skating into the right faceoff circle before wristing a shot just inside the far post.