In Montreal, the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins scored twice in the middle frame on Wednesday erase a 3-1 deficit to the Canadiens.
The Penguins completed the rtally on penalties when Jansen Harkins hit for the winner in the 12th round.
“It’s always fun once it starts going,” the Penguins’ Erik Karlsson said about the shootout. “Guys on the bench are starting to panic a little bit and hoping for a goal for us, so it kind of ends so they don’t get picked. But at the same time, it’s one of those things that guys get opportunities to take a penalty shot that otherwise they might have not, and today ‘Harks’ scored a goal for us.
“I don’t know if he’s taken a penalty shot before, let alone scored a goal, so it’s a big moment for him personally, and obviously, for our hockey club as well.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 39 saves in the win.
“We didn’t start the way we wanted to start but we kept fighting, we climbed back in the game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “And I thought obviously, the power play once again was a big difference for us but the penalty kill in overtime, and down the stretch I thought ‘Ned’ made some real timely saves for us as well. So, I’m just proud of the group. It’s a back-to-back, they’re never easy in these circumstances and I thought we competed hard.”
Pittsburgh improved to 13-12-3.
The Canadiens took a 2-0 lead in the first period with David Savard connecting at 6:24 for a 1-0 lead.
Jayden Struble pushed the advantage to 2-0 at at 12:21 for the Habs.
Sidney Crosby who had a double in the win, trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 13:48.
Montreal dropped to 12-13-4.
“I liked a lot of things in the first period, but we started to shoot ourselves in the foot,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “And in the second, we continued to shoot ourselves in the foot some more. But we played a very good third period. Overall, I think we played well enough to win the game, but when you shoot yourselves in the foot like that, you leave things to chance a bit.”
Sean Monahan pushed the lead back to two, 3-1, at at 15:20 of the opening stanza.
In the middle frame, Jake Guentzel hit for a power play goal to get the Pens within 3-2.
Crosby knotted it at 3-3 with a power play strike at 11:02.
A scoreless third period forced the extra session which solved nothing.
Sam Montembeault made 27 saves in the loss.
“It was a good show tonight,” Montembeault said. “Obviously, the fans loved it, it was so loud in the building. It can go either way in the shootout, you never know what can happen.”
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