Kirby Dach scored the go-ahead goal halfway through the third period, and Sam Montembeault stopped 27 shots as the Montreal Canadiens came back to win 3-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Cole Caufield scored his 100th career goal, and Emil Heineman also scored for Montreal, which won its third consecutive game and had its first multi-goal comeback of the season. The Canadiens, who were 0-13-0 this season when trailing going into the third period, ended the year with a .500 record (17-17-3).
Zach Whitecloud and Noah Hanifin scored for Vegas, which had a six-game win streak snapped. Adin Hill made 19 saves for the Golden Knights, who had lost only three times in 19 home games (15-4-0) this season.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at 2:23 of the first period when Whitecloud, joining the rush, received a pass from Tomas Hertl and beat Montembeault with a wrist shot. Hanifin added another goal with 11.6 seconds left in the period, making it 2-0.
Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier tried to poke-check the puck from Brett Howden, but it went right to Hanifin, who scored wwith a wrist shot into the top corner.
Caufield made it 2-1 late in the second period with a one-timer off a pass from Nick Suzuki. It was Caufield’s team-leading 19th goal of the season.
Heineman tied the game at 7:58 of the third, scoring off a rebound from a David Savard shot.
Dach gave Montreal the lead at 10:08 of the third, finishing a 2-on-1 break with Patrik Laine. He deked around Brayden McNabb and slid a backhand shot through Hill’s pads for his third goal in three games and the eventual game-winner.
With two minutes remaining, Vegas pulled Hill for an extra attacker, but Montembeault made two key saves on Hanifin and Victor Olofsson in the final 15 seconds to secure the victory.
