– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — After building a sizable advantage on the scoreboard, the Montréal Canadiens found themselves playing a good chunk of the latter stages of the third period at a numerical disadvantage on the ice, though that was no fault of their own. The lead was big enough, and the Dallas Stars’ valiant comeback a case of slightly too little and too late, to hold onto an impressive road victory to their their trip.
Nick Suzuki and Jordan Harris each had a goal and an assist, as the Canadiens scored four unanswered goals between the first and third periods after giving up the game’s first goal on their way to a 4-3 victory over the Stars inside American Airlines Center on Tuesday evening. Goalkeeper Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots for Montréal, who snapped a three-game losing streak to end a road trip that started all the way back on December 18.
Dallas pulled goaltender Scott Wedgewood from the cage with more than six minutes remaining, the unorthodox and risky ploy made famous by former coach and NHL legendary goalkeeper Patrick Roy when he was coaching the Colorado Avalanche a years ago. The ploy worked wonders then, and it did today for the Stars, as Wyatt Johnson and Jason Robertson scored on the 6-on-5 advantage in the Canadiens’ end, with the latter’s tally coming with two minutes even on the clock. Dallas had a couple of more chances to complete the miraculous comeback, but Montembeault and the Canadiens’ defense held up enough to preserve the win.
“There are not too many times when you’re six on five for six minutes. We could do a better job, but we got the win,” Suzuki, the Canadiens’ captain said. “That’s what’s most important. Defensively we were really good tonight against a really good offensive team.”
Half of the scoring offense for Montréal came from its defenseman, with goals from Harris and Kaiden Guhle adding to the Canadiens’ league-leading total of 30 goals by blue-liners this season. Harris’ goal, which was unassisted at the 6:54 mark of the second to give Montréal a 3-1 advantage, was his first goal of the season.
“The way the way the league is going is whenever you’re on offense, it’s a five-man unit. We have the defenseman that can make the plays,” Harris said. “Something we talk about as a group is doing it the right way. But definitely getting pucks on the net, jumping up on the play and making plays when you’re there.”
The first goal of the game came just 11 seconds in to the contest, as another Canadiens’ defenseman, Mike Matheson, turned over the puck behind the net, allowing Johnston to find captain Jamie Benn down low for a tap-in past Montembeault.
Though the Stars had plenty more chances at net on the evening, Montembeault was able to thwart every Dallas shot that came at him after Benn’s early goal until the frantic final minutes when Wedgewood was pulled.
Wedgewood made 14 saves for the Stars, who saw their six-game home winning streak snapped.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s contest, with photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 28 pictures in total.
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