Entering the third period Saturday night in Toronto, the Montreal Canadiens trailed the Maple Leafs, 4-9, but rallied with four goals for a 5-4 lead.
The Leafs needed a late goal from Auston Matthews, his second of the game, force extra time.
The Habs eventually won the march, 6-5, after the skills competition.
That’s what we’re all about. We’re resilient, we’re going to work and continue to push,” Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher (one goal) said. “We’ve been through this many times. We remember being in this building being up three goals (last season) and them coming back on us, so it’s kind of nice to return the favor.”
Carey Price made 32 saves to pick up the victory.
Alexander Kerfoot, Trevor Moore and William Nylander also scored for the Leafs.
“We were back to back (defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday), it’s no secret probably we’re going to be fatigued, but we can’t let that get in the way of us making boneheaded mistakes and costing us opportunities on the other end that they’re capitalizing on,” Matthews said. “It’s definitely something we can learn on. We’ve run into it in the past, but it’s on us to make sure no matter how tired we are, we’re making good decisions and taking care of the puck.”
The Canadiens scorers were Max Domi, Phillip Danault, Jonathan Drouin, and
Jeff Petry tied the game at 4-4, in the third on a penalty shot.
“Whether it was a penalty shot or on the power play, it was a good goal to be able to get the team going again,” Petry said. “We scored shortly after that again. It was a good way to come back. I don’t practice it very often.”
Kasperi Kapanen was whistled for throwing his broken stick at Perry.
“I didn’t think I was even going to hit him, but I just threw my stick that way and I hit him, and I guess you get a penalty shot for that,” Kapanen said. “I take full responsibility for my actions, and they tied it up, so obviously I feel bad about it. It’s a big mistake on my part.”
Paul Byron had the only goal of the shootout for the deciding marker.
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Michael Hutchinson got the start for Toronto and made 37 saves.
“We definitely weren’t happy with the first two periods. We were the fresh team and yet we were sloppy and not making good decisions,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. “After two periods, we were an extremely frustrated team, so we came in the room and it was a matter of refocusing and trying to get our game back on track, and the guys did a good job of it.”
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