Game 763
Canadiens 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT)
Saturday, January 21, 2023
Centre Bell, Montréal, Québec

Rem Pitlick scored 2:14 into overtime, and the Montréal Canadiens rallied with three straight goals for a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Pitlick drove the left side on a pass from Mike Hoffman and shot over Ilya Samsonov’s left shoulder for the game-winning goal. Montréal trailed 2-0 after the first period.

“That was definitely a really fun one to be a part of,” Pitlick said. “It was a great pass by ‘Hoff’ because he saw me coming with speed and he kind of was turning into a blind spot, if I remember correctly. So it was really nice to have the building go off like that, a Saturday night against Toronto. It was pretty cool.”

Josh Anderson and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored, and Sam Montembeault made 36 saves for the Canadiens (20-24-3), who have won three of four.

“I just thought there was no quit out of our team,” Anderson said. “Especially when you’re down 2-0, with a team like that that’s got a lot of offensive power. We just stuck together in this locker room, and came together and competed.”

Mark Giordano and Calle Jarnkrok each scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 28 saves for the Maple Leafs (28-11-8), who had won two straight and five of seven.

“We gave them the first goal and then they really started to pour it on and get their legs going,” Giordano said. “And we were sort of standing watching a bit. I thought we had some good shifts to start the third, some good looks, and then it goes to overtime. So a tough way to lose but we’ll take the point and go.”

Giordano gave Toronto a 1-0 lead 53 seconds into the first period, scoring for a second straight game on a wrist shot from the right side of the slot on a pass from William Nylander. Jarnkrok made it 2-0 at 17:30 when he tapped in Conor Timmins’ pass across the goalmouth from the right side.

Anderson cut it to 2-1 at 1:46 of the second period, scoring on a low one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle on a pass from Nick Suzuki. Anderson took the place of Cole Caufield, who will have surgery on his right shoulder and is out for the rest of the season, on Montréal’s top line.

“I think it just shows that it doesn’t matter who is in the lineup, if we play the game we want and everybody competes, it just shows that we can compete with any team,” Montembeault said.

Harvey-Pinard tied it 2-2 at 13:35 after driving to the net and shooting a rebound past Samsonov’s glove for his first goal in three games since he was recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.

“We kind of took our foot off the gas and kind of opened the door for them to make it a one-goal (game), and then obviously tie it up,” Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews said. “I thought the second period was our downfall of the game. I think it’s a period that we’ve been much better in for the most part of the season so obviously that’s a little bit disappointing.”

Montembeault scrambled back in front of the net to make a save on David Kampf’s point-blank shot at 8:43 of the third.

Kirby Dach hit the left post with the Canadiens on a 4-on-3 power play after Nylander was penalized for high-sticking with 2:07 remaining in the third. Nylander broke down the right side after exiting the penalty box and Montembeault made a pad save on his shot just before the period ended.

“We gave ourselves a lot of good chances in the third to give ourselves the lead but just couldn’t really execute, and you’ve got to tip your hat to the goalie, he made some good saves,” Matthews said. “But we definitely had enough chances to win the game.”

NOTES: Suzuki has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) during a seven-game point streak at home against Toronto…It was Harvey-Pinard’s second point in seven NHL games. He had one goal in four games last season…Giordano is the second Maple Leafs defenceman to score an opening-minute goal in the past 25 years. Morgan Rielly has accomplished the feat twice (0:49; March 27, 2022, and 0:58; April 4, 2021). Giordano is the third Toronto defenceman to score an opening-minute goal against the Canadiens. Tim Horton (0:10; February 4, 1965) and Mathieu Schneider (0:43; November 23, 1996) also did so against Montréal…The only other Maple Leafs defenceman at age 39 or older to score goals in consecutive games is Horton in 1968-69.

Story property of NHL.com, photo property of The Philadelphia Inquirer

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
TOR GOAL – 00:53 – Giordano (Nylander, Matthews)
TOR PEN – 05:26 – Aston-Reese, tripping
TOR GOAL – 17:30 – Jarnkrok (Timmins, Marner)
MTL PEN – 18:43 – Dadonov, hooking

2nd Period
MTL GOAL – 01:46 – Anderson (Suzuki, Pitlick)
TOR PEN – 10:47 – Sandin, interference
MTL GOAL – 13:35 – Harvey-Pinard (Pezzetta, Belzile)
TOR PEN – 18:39 – Giordano, interference

3rd Period
MTL PEN – 10:14 – Dach, holding
TOR PEN – 16:53 – Jarnkrok, interference
MTL PEN – 16:53 – Matheson, roughing
TOR PEN – 17:53 – Nylander, high sticking

Overtime
MTL GOAL – 02:14 – Pitlick (Hoffman, Savard)

GOALTENDERS
MTL – Montembeault (W, 36-38)
TOR – Samsonov (OTL, 28-31)

SHOTS ON GOAL
MTL – 4+18+6+3 = 31
TOR – 15+8+14+1 = 38

ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Sam Montembeault, Cayden Primeau. Defence: Justin Barron, Joel Edmundson (A), Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic, Mike Matheson, David Savard, Arber Xhekaj. Forwards: Josh Anderson (A), Alex Belzile, Kirby Dach, Evgenii Dadonov, Christian Dvorak, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Mike Hoffman, Michael Pezzetta, Rem Pitlick, Nick Suzuki (C), Jesse Ylonen.
TOR – Goaltenders: Matt Murray, Ilya Samsonov. Defence: Mark Giordano, Justin Holl, Timothy Liljegren, Morgan Rielly (A), Rasmus Sandin, Conor Timmins. Forwards: Zach Aston-Reese, Michael Bunting, Pierre Engvall, Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf, Alexander Kerfoot, Mitchell Marner (A), Auston Matthews, Bobby McMann, William Nylander, Wayne Simmonds, John Tavares (C).

TEAM RECORDS
MTL – 20-24-3 (.457)
TOR – 28-11-8 (.606)

ATTENDANCE
21,105

THREE STARS
⭐ Sam Montembeault (MTL)
⭐⭐ Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (MTL)
⭐⭐⭐ Josh Anderson (MTL)