In Montreal, Cole Caufield scored with 43 seconds left in extra time on Thursday to give the Canadiens a 4-3 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. 
The Habs had trailed in the game, 3-1, before rallying for the win.
Sam Montembeault made 33 saves in the win.
“We’re a pretty resilient group,” said Montreal’s Nick Suzuki. “We had a pretty (bad) first period and we weren’t happy about it, and I thought we responded well. It was nice to get one early in the second and just kind of build off that.”
Jack Roslovic scored at 2:46 of the first period to stake the Blue Jackets to a 1-0 lead.
“We had our chances, but it was a well-played game by both teams,” Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent said. “A lot of speed, lots of intensity, a physical game. I thought obviously, the penalties are something that changed the momentum.”
Emil Bemstrom scored the first of his two power play goals on the night to give Columbus a 2-0 advantage.
Suzuki trimmed the deficit to 2-1 with 27 seconds of fresh used in the middle frame.
“I really love how we responded there with the first-shift goal,” Caufield said. “Obviously, that kind of got us going, but I thought from there we pretty much played a full 45 (minutes) after that. It was for sure a bounce-forward game.”
Bemstrom scored his double at 13:37 for the 3-1 lead.
The Habs’ rally kicked off with 17 seconds left in the second on a power play strike by Mike Matheson.
“I think there was a little bit of a lull somewhere in the game, maybe late in the second, early in the third,” Roslovic said. “It was kind of in the middle of it, and we were up most of the game and we just need to not sit back and think as much.”
Sean Monahan tied the game in the early minutes of the third period.
“Those are those games that really can spark some things as a team,” Matheson said. “So hopefully, it builds a lot of momentum and confidence about the group.”
Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves in the loss.


You must be logged in to post a comment.