Jonathan Marchessault and Shea Theodore scored in the shootout to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.
Paul Cotter and William Carrier scored in regulation for Vegas, while Adin Hill made 37 saves, helping the Golden Knights improve to a league-best 9-0-1.
Sean Monahan and Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal, and Sam Montembeault stopped 24 shots.
The Golden Knights went to overtime for the third time in four nights, following an overtime loss to the Blackhawks on Friday and a shootout win in Los Angeles on Saturday.
“They took it to us. They came to play their game,” Cotter said about the Canadiens, who finished October with a 5-2-1 record. “We’ve got to remember that as reigning champs, we’ve got something to prove every night, and every team will give us their best. They came out strong, and I think we took a while to bounce back.”
Jack Eichel had a chance to win the game for Vegas in overtime with a penalty shot after Suzuki tried to stop him on a breakaway, but Montembeault denied the shot with a pad save.
The Canadiens outshot the defending Stanley Cup champions 39-26, marking the first time Montreal has outshot an opponent in seven games and just the second time in nine games this season.
“The one thing I can take from this game is we were emotionally challenged tonight with some of the calls,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “We knew we were playing well. It just seemed like we were swimming against currents sometimes. In the past, we would have lost ourselves in that emotional challenge.”
Cotter opened the scoring with a power-play goal, ripping a shot from the top of the right circle with just under 5 minutes remaining in the first period.
Monahan got his team-leading fifth goal when Hill misplayed the puck during a penalty kill. Hill fed the puck directly to Monahan, who had an empty net to tie the game 5 1/2 minutes into the second period. It was the first short-handed goal allowed by Vegas this season.
The Golden Knights, who were outshot 11-2 in the second period, regained the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining when Chandler Stephenson passed across the slot to Carrier, who chipped the puck past Montembeault.
The Canadiens continued to apply heavy pressure in the third period, outshooting Vegas 13-5 before Suzuki finally broke through with 4:18 left to tie the score at 2-2. It was Suzuki’s second goal of the season and his fourth career goal against his former team.
Despite his error on Montreal’s first goal, Hill expressed satisfaction with his performance, improving to 5-0-1 for the season.
“I felt like I was seeing the puck well, and my movement was good,” Hill said. “Outside the one mistake, I felt like I had a good game. So it’s just reminding yourself, ‘Hey, I feel good, just keep going.’ I know our team has our back, and we got another goal shortly after that, so that was big, and we found a way to get two points tonight.”
UP NEXT
- Canadiens: Visit Arizona on Thursday night.
- Golden Knights: Host Winnipeg on Thursday night.
