Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) controls the puck as Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg (40) bears down on him at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Nov. 26, 2016. The Canadiens beat the Red Wings 2-1 in overtime.Tom Szczerbowski
Alex Galchenyuk scored at 3:37 of overtime, and the NHL-leading Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Saturday night.
Brendan Gallagher also scored for Montreal, which improved to 16-4-2. Carey Price stopped 32 shots.
Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit (10-11-1), and Petr Mrazek made 22 saves.
Galchenyuk finished off a 2-on-1 by one-timing a pass from Alexander Radulov past Mrazek from the bottom of the left circle. It was Galchenyuk's ninth goal.
Gallagher tied it at 1 with 8:05 left in the third period when he tipped in a shot by Tomas Plekanec. It was Gallagher's first goal in 16 games and No. 5 on the season.
Abdelkader got the game's first goal 3:20 into the third period. He beat Price high on the glove side with a wrist shot from the high slot that deflected off the stick of Canadiens defenceman Greg Pateryn. It was Abdelkader's fourth goal.
Two Red Wings were helped to the dressing room in the second period and neither returned.
Defenceman Brendan Smith got his legs tangled up with Montreal's Phillip Danault along the boards in the Detroit zone and limped off with 8:01 left.
Forward Tyler Bertuzzi made it off the ice by himself, but on one leg, with 3:13 remaining after a low hit in the corner along the boards from Montreal defenceman Alexei Emelin.
Price made a nice save on a tip by Luke Glendening in the middle of the second.
Mrazek made a spectacular glove save on Arturi Lehkonen at 5:01. Lehkonen, stationed to the right of the net, one-timed a cross-crease pass, but Mrazek reached across and caught it.
The Canadiens outshot the Red Wings 10-5 in a scoreless first period.
NOTES: Detroit recalled G Jared Corveau from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League because G Jimmy Howard suffered a groin injury in Friday night's 5-4 overtime win in New Jersey. Howard is expected to be out a week or so. ... Montreal F Charles Hudon sustained an upper-body injury during practice Friday morning and did not make the trip as a precaution.
NEXT UP
Canadiens: Visit the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
Red Wings: Host Dallas Stars on Tuesday