MONTREAL – The Canadiens gave their fans a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory over the New York Islanders in their first game since the All-Star Weekend break on Saturday afternoon.
TICKETS: Canadiens Skills Competition presented by RONA
It was the start of Family Weekend presented by Tim Hortons at the Bell Centre. For Saturday’s game, one lucky fan club member had the chance to help out the team’s kit staff with pre-game preparations.
Before the face-off, the team celebrated the nomination of Sam Montembeault as the Molson Cup recipient for the January segment. He was also the starting goaltender for the game against the Islanders.
The organization observed a minute of silence for the victims of the tragedy which occurred earlier this week in Laval.
The match marked the striker’s return to play Jonathan Drouin, who hasn’t played since Jan. 17 due to an upper-body injury. He was inserted into the formation alongside Rem Pitlick et Christian Dvorak.
It was also a return to Montreal for Alexander Romanov, who was playing his first game at the Bell Center since his trade to New York this summer.
The captain Nick Suzuki continued its All-Star Game momentum by opening the scoring for the Canadiens with just over seven minutes left in the first period. The sequence started with Josh Anderson protecting the puck in the corner, before Rafael Harvey-Pinard grabbed it to send it across the slot to Suzuki, who fired it home, marking his 17th of the season.
Video: NYI@MTL: Suzuki completes Harvey-Pinard pass
Brock Nelson tied the game for the Islanders just over two minutes later.
The teams returned to the locker room tied 1-1, and tied 14-14 in shots on goal.
The second period was nearly a scoreless one, but Bo Horvat put the Islanders ahead with 3.2 seconds left on the power play.
New York shot on goal 10 times in the second period, while that number rose to five for Montreal.
The Canadians tied the game early in the third period. After Mike Hoffman carried the puck to the Islanders blue line and then sent it to Evgenii DadonovDadonov handed it to Justin Barron who, with a wrist shot from the face-off circle, scored his first of the season.
Video: NYI@MTL: Barron scores in 3rd period
The goal was scored after 4 min 2 s of play in the period.
The Islanders responded with nine minutes left on the clock when Matt Martin scored his sixth of the season to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead.
The Canadians weren’t about to give up, tying the score again with 3:16 to go when Kirby Roof deflected the wrist shot from Mike Matheson from the tip, recording his 12th of the season on the streak. Matheson and Hoffman had the assists.
Video: NYI@MTL: Dach scores in 3rd period
Neither team managed to get the lamp to shine before regulation time ran out. In overtime, both teams had chances to score in the first half of the period, but the Canadians had to retreat to their zone for the second game after Mike Hoffman was sent off for a batting.
With 21 seconds remaining in overtime, Matheson recovered the puck on the Montreal side to send it to Hoffman who entered the opposing zone, before burying the rebound from Hoffman’s shot and giving the victory to his team.
Video: NYI@MTL: Matheson marque en IN en OT
A lengthy video review followed the goal to determine if the streak was offside, but the Canadians were ultimately declared the winner by a score of 4-3 in overtime.
The Canadiens will be back in action on Sunday for Game 2 of Family Weekend presented by Tim Hortons. The Oilers will be the visitors for the occasion.
