(Montreal) The Canadiens still fought well, but they still suffered a fourth loss in their last five games, Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Posted at 10:04 p.m.
John Klingberg scored in overtime and the Dallas Stars beat Montreal 4-3.
Klingberg had been punished earlier in overtime, but the Canadian was unable to hit the target. The Stars defenseman ended his night at work with two goals and an assist.
Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield each had a goal and an assist, while Corey Schueneman scored his first NHL goal for the Canadiens (16-36-9). Making his first start since Jan. 12, when he suffered a lower-body injury, Jake Allen stopped 31 shots.
On the Stars side (33-23-3), Jamie Benn collected a goal and an assist, while Radek Faksa also moved the ropes. Jake Oettinger made 28 saves.
In addition to Allen, Christian Dvorak was also back in action for the Canadiens. The American center had missed the Habs’ last 19 games with an upper-body injury.
Jesse Ylönen and Cayden Primeau were traded to the Laval Rocket to make room for Allen and Dvorak in the roster.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Saturday, when they host the Ottawa Senators.
Still on a rollercoaster
Allen was soon put to the test, having to stop two point-blank shots from Roope Hintz in the opening moments of the game before making a miraculous save with the mitt against Michael Raffl, five minutes into the game.
At the other end of the ice, Oettinger also distinguished himself with a nice save with the right leg against Mike Hoffman.
The Stars finally opened the scoring with 1:27 to go in the first period. Faksa deflected a shot from Raffl behind Allen.
The show was less animated in the second period, but the Canadian tied the game on the power play at 9:36. Caufield took advantage of a cross pass from Suzuki to beat Oettinger with a one-timer.
The Stars regained the lead before the end of the second period. Benn hit the mark with 4:09 to go, taking advantage of a favorable jump from the boards behind the Canadian’s net.
Allen kept the Canadiens in the game with another spectacular save against Joe Pavelski early in the third period.
His teammates thanked him by tying the game at 8:52, as the teams played four against four. Suzuki was patient in front of Oettinger, who compromised, and he only had to push the puck into the opening.
Hintz almost gave the Stars the cue moments later on a similar fake, after sprinting Petry to nullify a disallowed punt. However, he missed the target.
Spectators were shouting to encourage Schueneman to shoot when he made them happy and unleashed a long shot. Oettinger had his sight obscured by two teammates and the puck moved the ropes at 12:47.
The Canadian’s first lead in the game didn’t last long. Klingberg surprised Allen from the slot 2:27 later.
Joel Armia was penalized with 1:19 left in regular time for tripping Oettinger behind his net. The Canadian got away with it, thanks in particular to two blocked shots from Jake Evans.
The Canadian in turn obtained a numerical advantage in overtime, but he was unable to take advantage of it.
Klingberg finally made the cut by taking advantage of his own comeback with 9.7 seconds left in overtime. The referees consulted the replay video before determining that there was no obstruction against Allen on the sequence.