Elias Pettersson scored 13 seconds into overtime as the Vancouver Canucks rallied from a four-goal, first-period deficit to defeat the visiting Montreal Canadiens 7-6 on Monday night.
Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson slipped and fell in the high slot and Pettersson, who also had two assists, scooped up the loose puck and then cut in from the right circle and fired a shot through the pads of Samuel Montembeault for the game-winner.
Ilya Mikheyev scored two goals and Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist for Vancouver. Jack Studnicka, Bo Horvat and Conor Garland also scored goals and Riley Stillman had two assists for the Canucks.
Collin Delia, who replaced starter Spencer Martin with 3:43 left in the first period, made 14 saves in his Vancouver debut for the win. Martin stopped just five of nine shots.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist and Josh Anderson, Christian Dvorak, Cole Caufield, Sean Monahan and Michael Pezzetta also scored for Montreal. Jordan Harris added a pair of assists, and Montembeault finished with 25 saves.
The Canucks started strong, peppering Montembeault with the first eight shots on goal to start the game. But it was all Montreal the rest of the period as the Canadiens scored four goals in a span of 8:28, including three in 3:43, while outshooting Vancouver 11-1 the rest of the period.
Caufield started the scoring at the 7:49 mark when he one-timed a Harris feed from the left circle past Martin’s blocker side for his 14th goal of the season.
Suzuki made it 2-0 when he rushed down the right wing and snapped a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that caromed off Martin’s glove and into the net for his 14th goal of the season.
Monahan extended the lead to 3-0 when he redirected Suzuki’s pass inside the left post for his sixth goal of the season.
Pezzetta made it 4-0 at the 16:17 mark with his first goal of the season when he backhanded Harris’ pass into the slot past Martin’s glove side.
Vancouver cut it to 4-2 late in the second period with two goals in 1:44 by Garland and Mikheyev. The Canucks tied it, 4-4, with goals by Horvat and Mikheyev early in the third period.
Studnicka then gave the Canucks their first lead at the 8:49 mark. Montembeault turned the puck over behind his net while trying to clear it, and Studnicka scooped it up and raced to the left side of the net where he roofed a wrist shot for his second goal of the season.
Montreal responded with goals by Dvorak and Anderson just 97 seconds apart to regain the lead, 6-5, with 3:00 to go. But Kuzmenko tied it with a power-play goal with 1:25 left when he redirected a J.T. Miller shot for his 12th goal of the season to send the game into overtime.
–Field Level Media
