Kirby Dach scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Sam Montembeault made 27 saves as the Montreal Canadiens scored three unanswered goals to rally for a 3-2 victory over 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 straight game with its first multi-goal comeback win of the season. The Canadiens, who were 0-13-0 this season when trailing entering the third period, ended the calendar year with a .500 record (17-17-3).
Zach Whitecloud and Noah Hanifin scored goals for Vegas, which had a season-long six-game win streak snapped. Adin Hill finished with 19 saves for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who lost for just the fourth time in 19 home games (15-4-0) this season.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 2:23 mark of the first period when Whitecloud, joining the rush on the right wing, took a pass from Tomas Hertl and snapped a wrist shot past Montembeault’s glove side for his first goal in 29 games.
Hanifin made it 2-0 with just 11.6 seconds remaining in the period. Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier poke-checked the puck away from Brett Howden near the left side of the crease, but it went straight to Hanifin, who then ripped a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net.
Caufield cut the lead to 2-1 late in the second period with a sharp-angled one-timer from below the left circle off Nick Suzuki’s crossing pass. It was Caufield’s team-leading 19th goal of the season.
Heineman tied it at the 7:58 mark of the third period by scoring a rebound of a David Savard shot from the right point.
Dach then gave the Canadiens their first lead midway through the period. He finished a 2-on-1 with Patrik Laine with a deke around sliding defenseman Brayden McNabb and then slid a backhand shot through Hill’s pads for his third goal in three games and the eventual game-winner.
The Golden Knights pulled Hill with two minutes to go and Montembeault made a pair of grade-A saves on Hanifin and Victor Olofsson in the final 15 seconds to seal the win.
