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 Center David Desharnais scored at 3:25 of the extra session to give
the Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday
night at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens, trailing 2-0 after the first and 3-0 early in the
third, tied it on left winger Tomas Fleischmann's fifth of the
season late in the third period of his 600th career game.
Fleischmann tied it up with 3:08 left in regulation when he beat
defenseman Ben Hutton along the wall and shot from the right dot.
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom thought he had it, but the puck trickled
behind him.
"It takes a lot of character to come back from that," said left
winger Lars Eller, whose shorthanded tally kicked off the rally. "We
overcame a lot and I think we really found our game in the second
and the third, and pushed the play into their end."
Left winger Max Pacioretty also scored in regulation for the
Canadiens.
Markstrom stopped 32 shots, while goalie Mike Condon made 23 saves
for Montreal (14-3-2).
Right winger Adam Cracknell, center Jared McCann and left winger
Daniel Sedin scored in regulation for Vancouver (7-6-6).
"We gave up that shorthanded goal that really turned things around,"
Daniel Sedin said. "But we're a young team and we've got to learn
from our mistakes. In moments like that, we're still up 3-1 and have
to keep going. In the third we played OK and could have easily won
the game but then they tied it, and our overtime hasn't been good
enough this year."
A turnover by defenseman Jeff Petry allowed the Canucks to get on
the board first. Left winger Chris Higgins picked up Petry's no-look
pass behind him and got it over to defenseman Matt Bartkowski at the
right point. Condon stopped the shot and right winger Derek
Dorsett's attempt on the rebound, but the second rebound found its
way to Cracknell on the right at 1:26 of the first period.
It marked the fourth consecutive game that the Canadiens allowed the
first goal.
McCann doubled the Canucks' lead at 17:54 on the power play. With
right winger Brendan Gallagher serving a double-minor for
high-sticking, the rookie's intended pass for right winger Radim
Vrbata found center Henrik Sedin at the top of the right circle, and
the Vancouver captain sent a perfect feed to McCann at the side of
the net.
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The Vancouver power play connected again at 3:17 of the second
period. Blue-liner Yannick Weber sent a light pass to Daniel Sedin
at the blue line, and the winger took a couple of short strides to
outside the left circle before firing a puck that got wedged top
corner.
Eller broke Markstrom's shutout with his sixth of the season.
Defenseman Tom Gilbert sent a stretch pass to Eller at center ice
and the winger, on a two-on-one with right winger Devante
Smith-Pelly, carried it just inside the right circle before
recording the Canadiens' fourth short-handed goal of the season at
8:40 of the second period.
"We knew we needed just one goal, one spark, and Lars did a good job
shorthanded to get that spark and from that point on, we never
looked back," Desharnais said.
Pacioretty brought the crowd to life when he made it a one-goal game
at 10:53 of the middle period. After Weber fell behind the net in a
battle for the puck with Pacioretty, the puck found its way to
Gallagher in the left circle. Markstrom made the save, but
Pacioretty was alone to the right of the net to easily poke it home.
It was only his second goal since Oct. 27 and his first against a
goalie since Oct. 24, the other being an empty-netter.
NOTES: Vancouver RW Alexandre Burrows missed the game for personal
reasons, while C Brandon Sutter remains day-to-day with a lower body
injury. ... Canucks LW and ex-Canadien Brandon Prust remained on
injured reserve with an ankle injury sustained against Montreal on
Oct. 27, as did D Luca Sbisa (left ankle). ... Montreal scratched LW
Paul Byron and D Jarred Tinordi while D Alexei Emelin missed his
second game with a lower-body injury and will be re-evaluated on a
daily basis, according to coach Michel Therrien. ...Vancouver rookie
C Hunter Shinkaruk made his NHL debut.
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