MONTREAL — Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal indicated that the tricky assignment came after defeating the Montreal Canadiens.

Teammate Ryan Strome handed Dostal the jacket that is given to the player of the game, which was the rookie’s reward after he made 23 saves in the Ducks’ 5-2 victory over the Canadiens on Thursday night at Bell Centre. It was Dostal’s second career victory and just the second win in regulation for the Ducks and their third road win.

“I couldn’t even put it on because I was sweating, right?” Dostal said in the dressing room. “Then they told me to have a speech and I’m not really a guy who talks in front of a locker room. I said, ‘Good job guys.’ And that was it.

“Sometimes it’s harder than playing hockey – to talk in front of people.”

The big stage – playing in Montreal – didn’t faze him, however. Dostal spoke of “the pure joy” in anticipating the occasion. He fully embraced it.

“I wasn’t nervous or anything,” he said. “The guys were saying how awesome it is to play here. I could tell it was awesome.”

Dostal had a shutout going after two periods, up 2-0. But the Ducks have rarely done anything the straightforward way through the first 30 games. So why should Game No. 31 be any different?

They lost their lead in the third, scrambled and then regained it at the hands of defenseman John Klingberg, who scored what proved to be the game-winner at 10:55. It was his second goal of the game, a shot from above the right circle, beating goaltender Jake Allen. In the final 1:28, there were two insurance goals, empty-netters from forward Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano.

It was their first victory in four games and they had lost nine straight games on the road (0-7-2).  And in their last two games, the Ducks had been outscored by a combined 10-0 in losses at Ottawa and Toronto. Dostal gave up five goals in relief in Tuesday’s 7-0 loss to Toronto, but Ducks coach Dallas Eakins noted that Dostal had been “hung out to dry” in that game.

“We talked about it before the game,” Eakins said. “As a group, we owed him one. We owed him a much better effort in front of him than we provided in the third period of our last game.

“I thought he was solid in there. He was like a kid in the candy store. This is a very special building, obviously. After the game, I went to talk to him for a couple of minutes alone and that’s all he talked about was the building and the atmosphere and how much fun it was. It kind of reminds you this is a game and it’s supposed to be fun.”

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The Ducks (8-20-3) established their lead on first-period goals 28 seconds apart by forward Troy Terry on the power play and Klingberg at even strength. Trevor Zegras assisted on both goals.

When the inevitable push came from the Canadiens in the third, it was Cole Caufield leading the way with consecutive goals, one on the power play and another on a wraparound after a fluke bounce off the end boards.

It’s always special for Zegras to play against his former teammates from the USA Hockey National Team Development program, whether it’s Jack Hughes in New Jersey or Caufield on Thursday.

“It’s cool playing him – me and him are so close,” Zegras said. “We’re pretty much talking every day during the season about fantasy, hockey, pretty much everything. For him to come back in the third and score a couple is pretty funny.”

Zegras had some fun in warmups, passing Caufield the puck, and later laughed about it, saying: “Sent him one. Not often we get to share the ice together anymore.”