In Dallas, the Montreal Canadiens scored three times in the third period and held off the Stars on Tuesday night, for a 5-3 win.
Sam Montembeault made 48 saves in the Montreal win, a career high.
“[Montembeault] played unbelievable,” the Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki said. “He had some huge saves. He probably won the game for us if it wasn’t for some of those saves. He was diving across everywhere making acrobatic saves. He was definitely the first star of the game for us.”
Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin, and Jacob Peterson were the Dallas strikers.
“It’s a 2-1 game when we give up a shorty,” Dallas head coach Rick Bowness said. “That’s shooting yourself in the foot, it’s as simple as that. The power play has to be a whole lot better than that … like, a lot better.”
Dallas dropped to 18-16-2.
“Hopefully this is just a blessing in disguise in a way that we have no choice but to get our act straight on the road coming up on a long [four-game] trip here,” Seguin said. “There’s no excuses. We’re getting down to, not do-or-die, but the stakes are pretty high.”
Christian Dvorak hit for a pair of goals in the Montreal win.
Tyler Toffoli picked up a goal and two points for the Habs.
“Being out that long, it took the first half of the game for me to get my legs under me and realize that I have more time out there when I have the puck,” Toffoli said. “The more comfortable I got … [Jake Evans and Suzuki] did a great job filling in for me to let me get comfortable again. [Montembeault] had an amazing game and kept us in it. Everybody from forwards to [defense]. A couple good breaks with them hitting the post early, but we’ll take the win.”
The Canadiens improved to 8-25-5.
Josh Anderson and Michael Pezzetta also scored for the Canadiens.
Jake Oettinger got the start and surrendered five goals and made 14 saves into the third period before getting the hook.
“That’s hockey, and that’s goaltending; it’s not always going to be easy,” Oettinger said. “I want to be a big part of this team and help this team win, and I know I can do that. No matter what happens out there, I believe in myself, and I know I can help this team win. I’m just going to do everything in my power to do what I can to get my game back to where it needs to be.”
Braden Holtby made three saves in relief.
“I thought we were getting a lot of chances, a lot of good looks, but then we’d give up an easy one,” the Stars’ Ryan Suter said. “They were capitalizing on their chances, and we weren’t.”
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