On Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights (25-14-13) finished off a four-game road trip with a trip to the Bell Centre to take on the Montreal Canadiens (29-16-7). They struck first, but allowed two goals in the second. Pavel Dorofeyev tied it in the third period with his second of the night, but the Canadiens took it in overtime by a score of 3-2.
The Golden Knights started well and outshot the Canadiens 7-3 after 10 minutes. Their sustained offense paid off, and they broke the ice at 8:38 in the first period.
Pavel Dorofeyev stripped Ivan Demidov in his own defensive zone, then raced up ice on a 2-on-1 with Braedan Bowman. Lane Hutson nullified the pass, so Dorofeyev took the shot and ripped it past Jakub Dobeš far-side.
After Dorofeyev’s goal, the Canadiens flipped the script and took control of the period. They outshot the Golden Knights 5-3 in the second half of the period and generated seven high-danger chances.
The Canadiens continued their pressure in the second period and outshot the Golden Knights 12-10. The Golden Knights generated seven high-danger chances, but Jakub Dobeš was up to the task.
Cole Caufield thought he tied it for his team on the power play, but the Golden Knights successfully challenged for offside. They killed off the rest of the penalty, but the Canadiens tied it for real just three minutes later.
The Canadiens found the equalizer at 4:24 in the second. The Golden Knights tried to clear the zone, but Zach Bolduc moved to hold it in. Bolduc flung a shot towards the net, and Philip Danault redirected it home.
The Canadiens took the lead at 8:55 in the second. Akira Schmid robbed Cole Caufield on a 2-on-1, but Nick Suzuki got to the rebound first. Suzuki found Mike Matheson at the point, who sent a pass to Noah Dobson. Dobson cut to the middle of the ice, and his backhand drifted wide of the net onto the stick of Caufield. Caufield stuffed it past Schmid, and that one counted.
Down by a goal after two periods, the Golden Knights pushed hard in the third. They outshot the Canadiens 13-3 and controlled 74.94% of the expected goal share. They generated six high-danger chances and allowed just one. However, Jakub Dobeš made save after save, including six on two early Golden Knights power plays.
Finally, the Golden Knights broke through and found the equalizer with 3:18 remaining in regulation. Pavel Dorofeyev gained the red line and dumped it in. Braedan Bowman got to the puck first and rimmed it around for Mitch Marner, who let it go back to Ben Hutton at the point. Hutton got a shot off, and Dorofeyev tipped it past Jakub Dobeš for his second of the night.
Rasmus Andersson took a penalty late in the third period, and the Canadiens headed to the power play with 33 seconds remaining in regulation. The remaining 1:27 carried over into overtime, but the penalty kill stood strong, and Akira Schmid saved both shots he faced.
The Canadiens ended the game with 1:02 remaining in overtime. Jakub Dobeš kicked aside Jack Eichel’s shot, and Alexandre Texier got to the puck first. Texier sent it ahead to Jake Evans, who raced up ice, cut around a backchecking Tomáš Hertl, drove the net, and finished off a backhand to hand the Golden Knights a 3-2 overtime loss.
Tonight’s overtime loss ends the Golden Knights’ four-game road trip. They finished with a 1-2-1 record.
