In their second of back-to-back games, the Montreal Canadiens posted a huge win on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights, 5-4. Claude Julien’s unit had to go through overtime and a two-goal deficit to reach their seventh win of the season.
“The guys never gave up,” Julien said. “We knew it was gonna be a tough game, the key was not to get frustrated, just to stick with it and I think we did a good job of that.”
The guests from Montreal were down 4-2, deep into the third period, but Tomas Tatar bought back hope with a goal 6:27 before the end. Tatar, a former Golden Knight, reacted the best following Joel Armia’s shot, which deflected off the post.
It was evident that everything changed after that situation, and that the momentum is switching onto the Canadiens’ side. They became more aggressive and offensive-minded. Julien decided to pull out his goalie Keith Kincaid off the ice, and to go for all or nothing.
Eventually, it paid off. After just 21 seconds of playing with an extra-man on the ice, the guests netted. Brendan Gallagher sent the puck between the pads of Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the match, and to freeze the home crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The guests had a massive swing, and a pause due to an end of the regulations couldn’t interrupt that. After 27 seconds in the overtime, Max Domi brought a win for the Canadiens, who performed an incredible comeback in less than 10 minutes.
Domi’s game-winner was also between Fleury’s pads.
“You want to call it resilience or character — you name it — the team showed a lot tonight,” Domi said. “We didn’t necessarily play the best hockey the first couple of periods, but you know what, good teams find ways to battle through that adversity.
The Canadiens were the ones who opened the game with Phillip Danault’s score. William Karlsson and Alex Tuch completely changed the situation, scoring each once until the end of the opening frame.
Only one goal took place in the second, and it was a work of Jonathan Drouin, who leveled the score at 2-all. Cody Glass and Mark Stone changed that, in the first eight minutes of the third.
This was the second defeat for the Golden Knights (8-5-1) during their three-game homestand. The Avalanche demolished Gerard Gallant’s team with 1-6, but they managed to bounce back against the Anaheim Ducks, 5-2.
The Canadiens (7-4-2) defeated Arizona Coyotes on the previous night, with 1-4, and despite all odds managed to deliver a nice surprise in Las Vegas. Just a few believed that they could do that, but Montreal rose to the occasion.
“Back to backs are tough, they’re very, very tough, and we found a way to stay with it and [Kinkaid] gave us a chance all night,” said Domi.
Up next the Canadiens are traveling to Dallas to face the Stars this Saturday. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights will host another Canadian team, the Winnipeg Jets.
