MONTREAL — Timo Meier scored twice as the San Jose Sharks rebounded from their worst loss of the season with a 4-1 victory over the slumping Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

Joe Thornton and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for the Sharks (21-12-4), who were coming off a 6-0 setback Sunday in Dallas. San Jose has won four of five games heading into a game Thursday night in Toronto.

Andrew Shaw scored for Montreal (16-20-4), which has lost five straight games and scored just four goals over that span.

San Jose outshot Montreal 33-31.

The Canadiens wasted a string of chances early as San Jose scored first when Justin Braun shot wide from the right point. But Thornton stopped the puck and put it in from the side of the net at 12:57.

Vlasic finished a 2-on-1 with Mikkel Boedker 11:27 into the second.

Montreal broke a run of 132 minutes without a goal at 16:07, but it took a two-man advantage to do it. And the Canadiens didn't shoot the puck into the net, as Max Pacioretty's pass to Shaw went off the centre's skate and past goalie Aaron Dell.

Meier was at the edge of the crease to finish a tic-tac-toe play with Chris Tierney and Kevin Labanc on a power play at 19:50. Meier got his second of the game and eighth of the season when he picked the top corner on Carey Price on an off-wing rush down the right side 1:13 into the third.

Dell has won six straight starts.

A moment of silence, along with a scoreboard video tribute, was observed before the game for former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower, who died Dec. 26 at the age of 93.

A sign of how impotent Montreal's attack has been, minor-league call-up Nicolas Deslauriers won the December edition of the 4-1 Cup, a team award based on three-star selections.