Rem Pitlick the hero as Canadiens high Maple Leafs in OT

The Montreal Canadiens battled their strategy to a 3-2 time beyond regulation win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on the Bell Centre on Saturday evening.

Rem Pitlick scored the winner within the further body with a depraved wrist shot that beat Ilya Samsonov on the quick facet.

Toronto got here roaring out to a 2-0 lead within the first interval, with targets coming from Mark Giordano and Calle Jarnkrok. The Habs got here out of the intermission with some fireplace of their bellies, tying the sport within the second body with targets from Josh Anderson and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.

Canadiens’ goaltender Samuel Montembeault shut the door on the Maple Leafs down the stretch, turning away 36 of 38 pictures on objective for the win.

Anderson LOVES scoring towards the Leafs

Josh Anderson tallied his 14th objective of the season to get the Canadiens on the board on Saturday with a candy one-timer off a feed from Nick Suzuki.

The snipe marks Anderson’s fiftieth objective as a Canadien, and his eighth towards the Maple Leafs since he was traded to Montreal in October 2020. One in every of his 5 profession playoff targets additionally got here towards Toronto in 2021.

In 28 profession video games towards Toronto, Anderson has notched 11 targets and 14 factors.

The 28-year-old loved a dominant efficiency on the Bell Centre, filling in on the highest line instead of Cole Caufield, who will miss the remainder of the 2022-23 season after struggling a shoulder damage.

Matthews objective streak involves an finish

Auston Matthews entered Saturday’s contest on a four-game objective streak, having notched 5 targets in that span. The Canadiens managed to maintain the Leafs celebrity off the scoresheet, limiting him to just one help and a -1 ranking in 19:51 of ice time on the evening.

Matthews solely directed three pictures on objective, with Montembeault extending his proper pad to cease a juicy rebound and deny Toronto’s high goalscorer within the second interval.

Matthews is tied with William Nylander for the staff lead in targets with 24.

Montembeault standing sturdy in internet

Samuel Montembeault entered the season because the clear backup to veteran netminder Jake Allen. However for the reason that latter’s damage in early January, Montembeault has carried the heavy load of backstopping the struggling Canadiens, and has largely excelled.

Within the 5 video games previous to Saturday’s contest, the 26-year-old averaged a .962 save proportion and a 2.40 targets towards common, with a five-goal stinker towards the Florida Panthers the one unhealthy efficiency in that span.

The 2015 third spherical choose stood on his head as soon as extra towards the Leafs, making 36 stops and robbing Toronto’s stars at level clean vary on numerous events.

Whereas Montembeault is bound to garner some curiosity across the league as goaltending insurance coverage for a contender, the Canadiens’ entrance workplace appears to rely him of their long-term plans as they search for some stability within the crease with Carey Worth unlikely to ever return to play.

“We need to preserve him, he is doing rather well recently and he is nonetheless a younger goaltender within the NHL,” common supervisor Kent Hughes mentioned on Wednesday. “It is powerful to assume that we will predict Sam’s future with a small pattern measurement, however we clearly see he is bought a sure potential.”

Canadiens call-ups making a distinction

The Canadiens’ infirmary is at the moment bursting on the seams, with as many as 10 gamers at the moment out injured. The unhealthy luck on the well being entrance has compelled the entrance workplace to name up some reinforcements from the AHL’s Laval Rocket, and the choice has paid off to this point.

Gamers who’ve frolicked within the minors this season mixed for 5 factors between them on Saturday, with latest call-up Pitlick notching the profitable objective in time beyond regulation. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard — one of many Rocket’s main scorers with 25 factors in 37 video games — scored his first NHL objective of the season to tie the sport at two, with fellow fill-ins Michael Pezzetta and Alex Belzile every registering a helper.

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