The Montreal Canadiens were clearly the worse of the two teams Thursday in Vegas, but they fought hard and did just enough to extract a point from the Golden Knights, losing 4-3 in overtime.
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During the extra period, Nicolas Roy was able to steal the puck from Ben Chiarot in the CH zone, then defender Shea Theodore seized it, before serving a masterful fake to Christian Dvorak and thwarting goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault.
The back of the Golden Knights thus crowned a night with three points, he who had also amassed two assists. Each of his assists were collected with the advantage of a man. He was initially an accomplice to the net of William Karlsson, in the second period, before replying by preparing that of Jonathan Marchessault, which tied the game 3-3 in the third period.
Chandler Stephenson was the other crowd-favorite scorer just under four minutes into the opening face-off.
On the side of the Canadian, Michael Pezzetta continued to seize his chance, he who hit the target for the fourth time this season, thus registering the first of his own. Tyler Toffoli, on a power play in the second period, and Mike Hoffman, in the third period, also flashed the red light.
Montembeault cannot do it alone
Montembeault once again took his game up a notch in front of the CH cage. He was particularly smoldering in the first and third periods, when he received 18 shots in each of those thirds.
He stood out several times, including a few seconds before allowing the winning goal, when he stopped Karlsson, who had slipped behind the Habs skaters.
Montembeault eventually completed the game with 49 saves.
The Canadiens will head to Denver for their next game, to face one of the best teams in the National League, the Colorado Avalanche.