The Canadiens have had difficulty winning at home, but they avoided another disappointment Saturday as Tomas Tatar scored the shootout winner to give the Canadiens a 5-4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at the Bell Centre.
The Golden Knights rallied from a 3-0 first-period deficit to cut the Montreal lead to one goal, but Dale Weise found Nick Cousins on a 2-on-1 rush at 7:40 of the third period. That gave Montreal a 4-2 lead, but it wasn’t enough to seal the win as former Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty scored his 22nd goal with a shade less than two minutes to play, and Reilly Smith scored with 7.5 seconds remaining in regulation time to send the game into overtime.
Carey Price picked up his fourth consecutive win.
It was only the second home win in eight games dating back to Dec. 12. The Canadiens have a 10-12-4 home record on the season.
While the recent focus has been the Canadiens’ pursuit of a wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference, the victory left Montreal only six points behind third-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs lost at home 6-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 36-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk was playing his 905th NHL game, but he showed all the enthusiasm of a rookie after he scored in the first period to give Montreal a 2-0 lead. He was lurking in front of the net when Marc-André Fleury gave up a rebound on Phil Danault’s shot from the point.
It was Kovalchuk’s fourth goal as a Canadien and his third in two games. He has been scoring at a point-a-game pace since signing with Montreal with four goals and four assists in eight games.
Kovalchuk’s goal was sandwiched between two first-period goals from unexpected sources.
The fourth line produced the opening goal as Weise won a battle behind the net and found Cousins moving toward the crease. Cousins showed patience as he waited for Fleury to make his move before slipping the puck under the goaltender’s outstretched right leg.
Defenceman Brett Kulak notched his first goal late in the period. Max Domi won a battle along the boards to set up Kulak’s shot from the left point. Joel Armia didn’t earn a mention on the scoresheet, but the Finn did his part by screening Fleury.
After a tight-checking first period, the Canadiens found themselves sucked into a run-and-gun contest and the Golden Knights cut the Montreal lead to 3-2. Jonathan Marchessault scored his 16th goal midway through the period on a good feed from Reilly Smith while Paul Stastny scored his 14th off a scramble in front of the net.
The Canadiens killed both Vegas power plays and the PK, which was the worst in the league earlier this season, has moved up to No. 20. Montreal managed only one shot on their only power play.
The Habs started their bye week Sunday and it will run through the All-Star break. The team won’t practise until next Sunday and they return to action the following day when the Washington Capitals visit the Bell Centre.
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