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 of the season. The Canadiens, who were 0-13-0 this season when trailing entering the third period, finished the calendar year with a .500 record (17-17-3).
Zach Whitecloud and Noah Hanifin scored goals for Vegas, which had its six-game winning streak snapped on the season. Adin Hill finished with 19 saves for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who lost for the fourth time 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 attack on the right wing, took a pass from Tomas Hertl and fired 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 left in the period. Canadiens defenceman Alexandre Carrier stripped the puck from Brett Howden near the left side of the crease, but the puck went right to Hanifin, who then wristed it into the top right corner of the net.
Caufield cut the lead to 2-1 late in the second period with a pinpoint shot from below the left circle off a cross-court pass from Nick Suzuki. It was Caufield’s team-best 19th goal of the season.
Heineman tied the score at 7:58 of the third period by scoring off a rebound of David Savard’s 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 fake past defenceman Brayden McNabb and then slid a backhand shot between Hill’s pads for his third goal in three games and the eventual game-winner.
The Golden Knights pulled Hill with two minutes left and Montembeault made a pair of top-notch stops on Hanifin and Victor Olofsson in the final 15 seconds to seal the win.