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The Canadiens seem like saving their greatest hockey for the hometown followers.

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After two lacklustre performances on the highway, the Canadiens returned  to the Bell Centre Monday and pulled out a dramatic 3-2 additional time win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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Whereas the Canadiens outshot the guests 39-28, they had been trailing 2-1 when coach Martin St. Louis known as a timeout late within the third interval and pulled goaltender Sam Montembeault.

“With 2:23 to go, is it early, I don’t know, however I really feel the faceoff was within the offensive zone and also you may not get one other a type of, so I known as a timeout, acquired organized and the fellows delivered,” mentioned St. Louis.

Particularly, it was Cole Caufield who supplied the tying objective with a shot from what has turn out to be his comfortable place, low within the left faceoff circle. Jonathan Drouin set him up with an ideal cross-ice cross and Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith mentioned he overpassed the puck for the second Caufield wanted to attain his third objective of the  season.

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That arrange the additional time and Kirby Dach scored on a 4-on-3 energy play after former Canadien Jeff Petry was despatched off for cross-checking. It was Petry’s third penalty of the sport. Dach redirected a cross from Sean Monahan with 1:51 remaining in additional time. It was Montreal’s first power-play objective in 13 alternatives.

“It’s fairly particular,” mentioned Dach. “I felt like I acquired a few alternatives in earlier video games to get my first one. However no higher feeling than getting your first one on a brand new crew at residence.”

Monahan, whose standing was unsure initially of coaching camp as a result of he was coming off hip surgical procedure, was moved as much as the highest line with Caufleld and Nick Suzuki, who scored Montreal’s first objective. However he began the season on a line with Dach, who mentioned they loved some chemistry.

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“I really feel like Mon and I’ve performed fairly effectively right here because the begin of the season,” mentioned Dach. “I believe we type of play an identical recreation and are in a position to learn off one another and make these tic-tac-toe type of performs, and it clearly paid off tonight.”

Monahan’s look on the highest line can be designed to assist Suzuki with faceoffs, however the teen didn’t want a lot assist as a result of he gained 10 of 15 attracts whereas Monahan gained solely two of 4.

St. Louis mentioned he wasn’t overly involved when the Penguins went up 2-0 on a pair of second-period targets by Evgeni Malkin as a result of he felt the Canadiens had been doing a superb job of controlling the puck within the offensive zone. He famous that, whereas the Canadiens didn’t rating within the opening interval, they held an 8-4 edge in scoring probabilities.

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Rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle took one other step in his improvement. He performed a career-high 24:43 and confirmed his offensive upside with seven photographs, three of which had been on the web. He acquired time on the facility play and picked up an help on Caufield’s objective.

Rookie Jordan Harris additionally hit a career-high in ice time with 20:45 and put 4 photographs on web and had a few blocks.

Guhle’s associate on the highest pair, David Savard, continued in his position as a frontrunner and veteran presence. He blocked seven photographs and is the NHL chief in  that  division with 23.

Montembeault performed a stable recreation after Jake Allen went on paternity depart. He made 26 saves.

phickey@postmedia.com

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