Through two periods, Brian Gionta’s 1-0 goal represented all the scoring in Wednesday’s eventual Montreal Canadiens’ 4-3 shootout win against the New Jersey Devils.
The third period featured a relative explosion of action, especially in the last minute, when New Jersey generated a 3-2 lead that evaporated 30 seconds later.
Here’s Patrik Elias goal, which came with 1:06 left in the third:
It seemed like that might be the game-winner, but that wasn’t the case, as David Desharnais tied it up with 37 seconds left:
Desharnais notched the difference-maker in the shootout, too, as he joined Lars Eller as Montreal’s scorers in that format.
With this come-from-behind win, Montreal has now won three in a row and seven of its last eight games to improve to 17-9-3. They have a nice chance to continue their forward momentum, at least short-term, as they play their next three games in Montreal. (Things get hairy after that, however, as they play eight of 10 games on the road from Dec. 12 - Jan. 2.)
The Devils dropped this home-and-home with Montreal after winning two in a row, leaving the Devils at 11-13-5. Perhaps things will run more smoothly if they can hypnotize Michael Ryder into thinking he’s facing his former team every night; he scored a goal against the Habs on Monday and had a goal and an assist against them tonight.