MONTREAL — Rem Pitlick scored 2:14 into overtime, and the Montreal Canadiens rallied with three straight goals for a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Center on Saturday.
Pitlick skated down the left wing after taking a pass from Mike Hoffman and shot short side over Ilya Samsonov‘s right shoulder.
“That was definitely a really fun one to be a part of,” Pitlick said. “It was a great pass by ‘Hoff’ because he saw me coming with speed and he kind of was turning into a blind spot, if I remember correctly. So it was really nice to have the building go off like that, a Saturday night against Toronto. It was pretty cool.”
Video: TOR@MTL: Pitlick wins it for Canadiens in overtime
Josh Anderson and Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored, and Sam Montembeault made 36 saves for the Canadiens (20-24-3), who have won three of four.
“I just thought there was no quit on our team,” Anderson said. “Especially when you’re down 2-0 with a team like that that’s got a lot of offensive power. We just stuck together in this locker room and came together and competed.”
Mark Giordano and Calle Jarnkrok scored, and Samsonov made 28 saves for the Maple Leafs (28-11-8), who had won two straight.
“We gave them the first goal, and then they really started to pour it on and get their legs going,” Giordano said. “And we were sort of standing watching a bit. I thought we had some good shifts to start the third, some good looks, and then it goes to overtime. So a tough way to lose, but we’ll take the point and go “
Video: TOR@MTL: Giordano starts scoring early in the 1st period
Giordano gave Toronto a 1-0 lead 53 seconds into the first period with his second goal in two games. He scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle from a pass William Nylander.
Jarnkrok made it 2-0 at 17:30 when he tapped in Conor Timmins‘cross-ice pass at the left post.
Anderson cut it to 2-1 at 1:46 of the second period, scoring on a low one-timer from a pass off the top of the left circle. Nick Suzuki.
Anderson was playing on the top line in place of Cole Caufieldwho will have surgery on his right shoulder and be out for the rest of the season.
“I think it just shows that it doesn’t matter who is in the lineup, if we play the game we want and everybody competes, it just shows that we can compete with any team,” Montembeault said.
Harvey-Pinard tied it 2-2 at 13:35 after driving to the net and shooting a rebound past Samsonov’s glove. It was his first goal in three games since being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.
“We kind of took our foot off the gas and kind of opened the door for them to make it a one-goal [game]and then obviously tie it up,” Maple Leafs center Austin Matthews said. “I thought the second period was our downfall of the game. I think it’s a period that we’ve been much better in for most of the season, so obviously that’s a little bit disappointing.”
Video: TOR@MTL: Harvey-Pinard scores 1st of season
Montembeault kept the game tied when scrambled back in front of the net to make a save David Kampf‘s point-blank shot at 8:43 of the third.
Kirby Dach After hitting the left post with the Canadiens on a 4-on-3 power play, Nylander was penalized for high-sticking with 2:07 remaining in the third. Nylander then broke down the right wing after exiting the penalty box, but Montembeault made a pad save on his shot just before the period ended.
“We gave ourselves a lot of good chances in the third to give ourselves the lead but just couldn’t really execute, and you’ve got to tip your hat to the goalie, he made some good saves,” Matthews said. “But we definitely had enough chances to win the game.”
NOTES: Harvey-Pinard had one goal in four games last season. … Giordano is the second Maple Leafs defenseman to score an opening-minute goal in the past 25 years. Morgan Rielly has accomplished the feat twice (49 seconds on March 27, 2022; 58 seconds on April 4, 2021). Giordano is the third Toronto defenseman to score an opening-minute goal against the Canadiens (Tim Horton, 10 seconds on Feb. 4, 1965; Mathieu Schneider, 43 seconds on Nov. 23, 1996). … The only other Maple Leafs defenseman to score in consecutive games at the age of 39 or older is Horton in 1968-69.
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