Nick Suzuki scored the winning goal during a power play 48 seconds into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night at the Bell Centre.
Back at the Bell Center after a successful return abroad, the Canadian experienced a slump at the start of the second period, but he had the merit of recovering from it.
And the one who contributed the most to this awakening was defenseman Lane Hutson, who collected a goal and an assist in the third period before obtaining an assist on Suzuki’s net, his 12e of the season.
Cole Caufield (22e), Kaiden Guhle (3e) and Kirby Dach (6e) also beat Kevin Lankinen who faced 23 shots.
JT Miller led the Canucks’ offense with a pair of goals, his seventh and eighth of the season, and two assists.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki (2e) and Jake DeBrusk (17e) also deceived the vigilance of Samuel Montembeault, who blocked 16 pucks.
After its great successes on the road during the holiday period, the Habs will return to play abroad, but for just one game, Friday against the Washington Capitals.
The next day, the Canadian will return to his stronghold to face another strong rival, the Dallas Stars.
Shock and goal!
We could say that the Canadian started the meeting with a bang, and exaggerating the onomatopoeia a little, with two!
There were only 45 seconds left in the game when Guhle welcomed Lekkerimäki by hitting him solidly at the Canucks blue line, to the point of making the 20-year-old Swede lose the puck.
Methodically, the Canadian relaunched the attack from deep in his territory, and only 22 seconds after Guhle’s impactful check, Caufield created a bang in his own way. With a wrist shot from the top of the slot, Caufield beat Lankinen after accepting a precise pass from Juraj Slafkovsky.
The Canadian players continued to impose themselves physically in the first half of the period, but not enough to disturb their rivals and prevent them from creating a tie.
At 10:47, Miller began his great offensive evening by beating Montembeault with a one-timer from the top of the slot as well, after Nils Hoglander had won his battle with Hutson along the ramp.
From there, the aggressiveness displayed by the Canadiens players gradually dissipated, and it only returned in the second half of the second period.
Habs fans had to wait for nearly 10 minutes before seeing their favorites test Lankinen in the second period, thanks to a more or less dangerous shot from Mike Matheson from the right point.
About a minute after that first shot, Guhle found the back of the net with a wrist shot, also from the right point. But unlike Matheson’s attempt, the puck slipped past a few players from both teams and into the net, after effective work from Joel Armia.
This goal only brought the Canadian back into the game because the Canucks had time to score twice in 20 seconds, early in the period.
Posted at the mouth of the net, Miller added his second of the evening by taking advantage of the return of a shot from Lekkerimäki.
Then, at 3:41, Lekkerimäki made it 3-1 by beating Montembeault with a stick-side wrist shot that the Canadian goaltender might have liked to see again.
The Canadian started the third period much better and Hutson’s incursions, deep into the opposing zone, led to two goals in just over four minutes.
The young Canadian defenseman first collected an assist on Dach’s tying goal, during a power play, at 2:01 of the period.
Then, at 6:24, Hutson gave the Habs the lead when what looked like a pass hit Hughes’ right skate and sailed into the net.
About two minutes later, an ill-advised slashing penalty from Caufield led to DeBrusk’s tying goal, assisted by Miller, just 12 seconds after the Canadiens forward entered the penalty box.
The Canadian then had a golden opportunity to win the game when Hoglander was fouled for obstructing Hutson with 35.7 seconds left in the third period.
It was in overtime that everything would be resolved in favor of the Habs with, once again, Hutson at the center of the action.
