In Montreal, the visiting Vegas Golden Knights scored three straight power play goals, including two in the third period just 44 seconds apart to erase a 4-3 deficit and take a 6-4 lead over the Canadiens.
Shea Theodore scored at 16:07 of the middle frame to tie the game, 4-4.
“Their goaltender was excellent, so eventually, if you keep putting pucks at him, you’re going to get something to go usually, and that’s how it played out,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said.
Jack Eichel scored the second power play at 18:04 of the third to take a 5-4 lead on the Habs.
Mark Stone added the third power play strike at 18:48 for a 6-4 lead.
“I thought we controlled most of it. Even when we were down, it felt like if we continued to play our structure, we were going to capitalize,” said Stone. “And I think we just kind of wore them down there in the end. They were playing four or five defensemen in the third, which led to some of those power plays.”
Vegas needed that marker because Justin Barron scored with 54 seconds left on the game clock for the 6-5 final.
Adin Hill made 23 saves in the Vegas win.
The Knights moved to 13-3-1.
Montreal took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Alex Newhook at 6:43, and a strike by Johnathan Kovasevic 10:03 of the period.
Vegas got one back at 2:33 of the middle frame on a shorthanded marker from Brett Howden.
Montreal’s Jesse Ylonen hit the first of a double at 8:28 of the second to push the Habs lead to 3-1.
“Special teams were certainly a big difference maker ” Cassidy said. “We’ve talked about that being more important for us this year. Last year, we got a lot of wins and it wasn’t always a strength of ours. And this year, especially the kill lately has been excellent. Another short-handed goal to give us some juice. The power play came through at the end, so I’m happy for those guys.”
From there, Vegas rallied to knot the game at 3-3.
Montreal dropped to 7-8-2.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a lot,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “We helped them create offense, they didn’t have to go 200 feet often enough. We did some good things, all the same, but there were too many bad things. Against good teams like that, if you trade a good thing for a bad thing, it’s tough to win.”
Brayden McNabb scored just 18 seconds after Montreal took the 3-1 lead.
Jonathan Marchessault hit for a marker at 11:20 for a 3-3 tie.
Ylonen scored his double at 11:53 of the second, just ahead of the Vegas rally.
“He’s got really quick hands and a great release,” Canadiens forward Jake Evans said. “So, I like the odds when he’s on a breakaway.”
Cayden Primeau made 36 saves in the loss.
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