About Last Night: Habs Win Seesaw Battle Over Pens 5-4 at OT

Article content

Habs is on a three-game winning streak, and he’s winning in an interesting way. The Montreal Canadiens fell behind him three times, but on Saturday, Bell played at center Pittsburgh in overtime against the Penguins, where he won 5–4.

Article content

Mike Hoffman scored the winner in overtime. Nick Suzuki scored a goal and an assist, Cole Corfield scored a goal and Kirby Duck scored two helpers. Kaiden Guhle also recorded his two assists in perhaps his best game ever as a pro.

Article content

After missing two games on suspension, Josh Anderson quickly announced his return with the opening goal of 1:48.

Article content

The Penguins fired in the second period. As Anderson entered the box to start the frame, former hub Jeff Petrie scored from a pass that bounced off Jake Evans.

Article content

Just 43 seconds later Ricardo Raquel scored and Jason Zucker scored his second assist of the night to give the Penns their first lead at 2-1.

Article content

Hubb had 19 shots on Tristan Jarry in second, but couldn’t beat him. They looked like they were due and scored an equalizer from far away with less than a minute to Caulfield in the third. Penn disputed Duck’s interference with Jarry, but the goal stood.

Article content

Penn regained the lead twice in the third, only to see Hubb tie it. Evgeny Malkin popped out of nowhere to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead two and a half minutes after Caulfield’s goal. His third assist for Zucker.

Article content

Just 50 seconds later Suzuki caught up 3-3. After some clever stickhandling, a feed attempt to Dacha came back and scored in an open net.

Article content

After a procession into the penalty box that gave the fans a rare 3-for-3 in regulation time, Brock McGuinn took advantage of the wide open space to regain a Pittsburgh 4-3 lead.

Article content

Again, the lead was short-lived. Just 40 seconds later, everyone but Kris Letang out of the box and his Sean Monahan on the doorstep tied him 4-4, sending the game into overtime.

Article content

It didn’t take long for the Hubs to send the crowd home happily.At 1:04, Duck delivered a pass to Hoffman after nearly reaching the goal line. Hoffman found enough short sides to beat Jarry 5-4.

Article content

It’s not a lie. It was a fun Saturday night at the Bell Center. The comments section of the live blog was buzzing with life as the game went into overdrive in his third. Now that they’ve won, the point may be moot, but commentators are happy to see fun, high-scoring hockey from a team that isn’t afraid to take chances on offense. Speaking of which, Guhle continues to impress, and who would have expected him to be so natural during 3-on-3 overtime?

Habs may start losing again at some point this season, but don’t let it get boring.

3. “Saturday Night Hockey and a win for the gutsy Habs. I couldn’t ask for more.” – Kelly Morgan

2. “I’m very impressed with Suzuki. He uses his body to protect the pack, he has separation speed, he’s very patient and he’s very smart.” -Arthur Chile

1. “Now I know why MSL played Hoffy so much despite everyone else claiming to get rid of him. Not so soon!!!” -Karin Ratzel