Anderson scores overtime winner as Canadiens beat Golden Knights 3-2

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The Canadiens did it again on Friday.

Josh Anderson scored the tying goal with 1:55 remaining and the winner with 7:07 left in the first overtime period to give Montreal a stunning 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in front of a delirious crowd at the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens were outplayed for most of the night but still managed to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series in the Stanley Cup semi-finals. It was the first time in 10 games this postseason where they have won when they did not score first. Game 4 will be played, again on home ice, on Sunday night.

Anderson, who had not scored since the first game of the first round, snuck a backhand into the net to tie it late after a terrible gaffe by Vegas goalie Marc-André Fleury. A three-time Stanley Cup-winner in Pittsburgh, Fleury mishandled a puck behind the net and it then trickled over to Anderson for the easy goal.

Anderson then sent the crowd into hysterics when he beat Fleury in extra time.

Carey Price had 43 saves for the Canadiens, who were outshot 45 to 27.

“We just didn’t quit,” Price said. “That is probably the easiest way to explain it. We just responding to adversity and getting it done.”

After a regular season that was shortened and then disrupted by COVID-19, the pandemic became an issue in the playoffs for the first time.

Dominique Ducharme, the interim head coach of the Canadiens, was forced into quarantine at home in Montreal after it was confirmed in the morning that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Ducharme had flown back with the team from Las Vegas on Thursday. Tests administered to the players, coaches and other members of the staff have come back negative so far.

During a late-afternoon news conference, Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said he spoke to Ducharme twice during the day and that the interim head coach felt fine. It is unknown how long Ducharme will be away.

“It is an ongoing situation, so I can’t tell you,” Bergevin said.

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Ducharme, who took over in April after Claude Julien was fired, talked to the players on a video call both before and after the game.

In Ducharme’s absence, assistant coach Luke Richardson was assigned to run the Montreal bench, with help from fellow assistants Alex Burrows and Sean Burke. Seconds after the game ended, Richardson tapped at his chest over his heart as a tribute to Ducharme.

“This was a difficult time for everybody,” Richardson, who was credited with his first NHL-coaching victory, said. “I felt bad for Dom for missing it. After we won, the guys were thrilled for him and wanted to share the celebration with him.”

The loss was tough to swallow for Vegas, the top-seeded team remaining in the playoffs. The Golden Knights did not make Fleury, who stopped 24 of 27 shots but cost his team the victory, available for post-game interviews.

“Fleury’s played great for us all year,” Mark Stone, the Golden Knights captain, said. “It was just an unfortunate bounce. There is nothing you can do about it.”

“I saw him in the hallway between the third period and overtime and said, ‘Let’s get this back,’ ” Vegas coach Pete DeBoer said of Fleury.

After being outplayed in the first period of the first two games, the Golden Knights were desperate to have a better start.

They got one – but went to their dressing room after 20 minutes without a goal for the third straight contest. In the first period, they peppered Price with 17 shots to no avail. With Vegas playing tight defence, Montreal was unable to generate its first shot on net until 8:33 of the first. At the first intermission, the Canadiens had been outshot 17-3.

Unlike in Las Vegas, where the first two meetings drew full houses, the crowd at the Bell Centre was limited to 3,500 spectators. The fans did their best to encourage the home team, cheering loudly, waving white towels and booing Max Pacioretty every time he touched the puck. The former Montreal captain was traded to the Golden Knights during the 2018 off-season.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who is jeered by fans around the league almost for sport, attended his first game of the semi-finals and didn’t get treated anywhere near as badly as Pacioretty. The Montreal faithful also serenaded the visiting goaltender – “Fleury, Fleury” – when he had another shaky moment in overtime, and showed their displeasure with the officials when Corey Perry was struck by a high stick in overtime and it went undetected.

“Refs, you suck!” the crowd chanted.

The Golden Knights finally broke through when centre Nicolas Roy converted a turnover by Eric Staal into a goal with 16:44 remaining in the second period. The score came on their 22nd chance of the night.

It took Montreal only 38 seconds to get even. After a pass from Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield broke in on Fleury and beat him. It was the fifth straight game in which Caufield, a 20-year-old rookie, has recorded a point and his second goal of the playoffs.

From there, the teams traded dangerous chances, with Price and Fleury both proving to be up to the task. The period ended in a 1-1 deadlock despite Vegas holding a 30-8 advantage in shots on the net.

Alex Pietrangelo snapped a wrist shot past Price early in the third period for what looked to be the winning goal until the waning seconds.

“We had to press in the third period and got a fortunate bounce on the tying goal,” Anderson said. “In overtime it looked like we had more energy than them in a huge game we needed to win.”

Montreal was the lowest-ranked team to reach postseason but came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Maple Leafs, and then swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. After losing the opening game of the semifinals 4-1, the Canadiens have ground out two tough wins.

They wouldn’t have won either without Price, who has stopped 72 of 76 shots over the two games.

“It was incredible to watch him play like that, not only for me but for our fans,” Anderson said. “He kept us in the game all night. We wouldn’t be sitting here in this position without him.”

The Canadiens got contributions from all over the lineup. Paul Byron, a 165-pound forward, had nine hits. Jeff Petry blocked five shots. Phillip Danault went 14-4 in faceoffs. Shea Weber logged 31 minutes 17 seconds of ice time.

“We knew it was going to be crucial to get ahead in the series,” Anderson said. “We didn’t come out and play the way we wanted to at the beginning, but we found a way to win. It was a full team effort.”

With files from Dylan Earis