Pettersson scores early in OT, Canucks beat Canadiens 7-6
Pettersson #Pettersson
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Elias Pettersson scored 13 seconds into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks rallied to beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-6 on Monday night.
Ilya Mikheyev scored two goals, Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist, and Conor Garland, Bo Horvat and Jack Studnicka also scored for the Canucks. Pettersson also had two assists.
Spencer Martin started in goal and gave up four goals on nine shots before he was pulled late in the first period. Collin Delia came on and had 14 saves for the win as Vancouver finished 2-2-0 on a four-game homestand with two overtime victories.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, and Cole Caulfield, Sean Monahan, Michael Pizzetta, Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson also scored for the Canadiens. Jordan Harris had two assists and Sam Montembault finished with 25 saves.
Montreal built a 4-0 lead in the first period before Vancouver scored five straight goals to take the lead. The Canadiens regained the lead with two goals in the third before Kuzmenko tied it again with a backdoor tip-in with 1:25 remaining to force overtime. J.T. Miller, who set up the Russian rookie, got his 300th assist on the play.
Pettersson then ended the extra period quickly, sending a blistering shot through Montembault’s pads for his 12th of the season.
Garland got the Canucks comeback started with 3:16 left in the middle period with a wrist shot over Montembault’s left pad for his fourth to make it 4-1. It ended a 17-game goal-scoring drought for the forward.
Mikheyev pulled Vancouver within two with 1:32 left in the second as he got a pass from Pettersson and popped it in.
Horvat batted in a rebound for his 20th of the season and first in 18 games to make 4-3 at 4:02 of the third.
Mikheyev tied it with his second of the night and eighth of the season 1:43 later as he got a cross-crease pass from Pettersson and fired a sharp-angle shot past Montembault.
Studnicka gave Vancouver a 5-4 lead at 8:49. He picked off Montembault’s clearing attempt behind the Canadiens’ goal and sent a shot up and under the crossbar before the goalie had a chance to get set back in his crease.
Dvorak tied it with 4:37 left, redirecting Evgenii Dadanov’s pass from the top of the crease for his fifth.
Montreal regained the lead 6-5 with 3 minutes left when Anderson’s shot went off Delia’s pad. The rebound bounced out, pinging off the skate of Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes and into the net.
Caufield got the Canadiens on the scoreboard first on a slap shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle past Martin for his 14th goal of the season 7:49 into the game.
Suzuki made it 2-0 with 7:26 left, moments after the Canadiens killed off a penalty. The speedy center beat Hughes to a puck and raced him deep into Canucks territory and fired a shot that caught Martin’s outstretched pad on its way into the net.
Monahan tipped Suzuki’s pass in from the top of the crease with 5:03 remaining in the first and Pezzetta got his first of the season just 1:20 later on a backhander past Martin to make it 4-0.
That ended Martin’s night and brought on Delia for his first appearance with the Canucks.
UP NEXT
Canadiens: At Seattle on Tuesday night to wrap up a four-game western trip.
Canucks: At San Jose on Wednesday night.
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Vancouver Canucks goalie Spencer Martin (30) leaves the ice and is replaced by goalie Collin Delia (60) after giving up four goals to the Montreal Canadiens during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
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