(Montreal) The Canadian finally broke against the team of the hour in the NHL.
Evan Bouchard scored on the power play 2:01 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Montreal team 2-1 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
Bouchard played the hero with a powerful one-timer, which hit the post before crossing the goal line.
The Oilers thus broke a team record by winning a 10e match in a row.
They must have worked hard, as the Habs did a good job of limiting quality scoring opportunities to the Oilers stars.
Cole Caufield scored the only goal for the Canadian (17-18-7). Samuel Montembeault stopped 39 shots.
Leon Draisaitl scored in regulation time for the Oilers (22-15-1). Stuart Skinner made 23 saves.
Forward Joshua Roy played his first career NHL game with the Canadian. He replaced Josh Anderson, bothered by a lower body injury which will be re-evaluated on a daily basis. Defender Justin Barron was also left out in favor of Johnathan Kovacevic.
For the Oilers, defenseman Philip Kemp also took part in his first NHL game.
The Canadian will play their next game on Monday, when they host the Colorado Avalanche at the Bell Centre.
A good battle
An error by the Habs at their blue line allowed the Oilers to attack from the first moments of the match. Montembeault, however, made the save with the mitt at the expense of Vincent Desharnais.
Caufield scored on the power play 1:43 into the first period. He received a cross pass from Nick Suzuki and was able to shoot into a gaping cage.
The 23-year-old American came close to widening the gap later when Skinner struggled to control a backhand shot from Juraj Slafkovsky. Caufield was unable to beat him by hitting the puck in flight.
The Oilers controlled the action for long periods in the second period.
Bouchard hit the post head-on on a slap shot and Montembeault stood out late in the period by stopping a point-blank one-timer from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Overall, however, the Canadian protected the enclave well.
The Oilers tied the game 38 seconds into the third period. Draisaitl threaded the needle after a Warren Foegele charge at the net.
Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis disputed the goal, but NHL officials said Foegele did not interfere with Montembeault’s work on the sequence.
The game became lively afterwards. While the teams were playing four against four, Foegele hit the post in a two against one attack.
Then the Canadian found himself on the power play. Sean Monahan missed an open net after a nice exchange started by Suzuki and Slafkovsky. Skinner then stopped a powerful one-timer from Caufield from the slot.
The second half of the third period was the Oilers affair, but Montembeault closed the door, forcing a tiebreaker.
Bouchard ruled in overtime, while Mike Matheson was in the penalty box for hitting Darnell Nurse in the face with his stick.