Blog: Golden Knights lead late, but fall in OT to Canadiens

By Justin Emerson

Published Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018 | 11:48 a.m.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018 | 3:41 p.m.

The Golden Knights led late, but Paul Byron scored in overtime for the Montreal Canadiens and the Vegas fell, 4-3 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

The Golden Knights were 1:25 away from a 3-2 regulation victory, but Phillip Danault completed the hat trick for Montreal with 1:25 left after goalie Carey Price left the net for the extra attacker.

The Canadiens scored first in the game, but Pirri scored once in the first and once in the second to put Vegas up 3-2. The two goals gave him three in two games this year and six in four career games with the Golden Knights.

Fleury was superb, allowing one goal in 17 first-period shots, then surrendering the second on a deflection that appeared to be a high stick, but replay upheld the goal call.

Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Golden Knights, and William Karlsson and Brayden McNabb each had two assists.

Montreal finished with the shots-on-goal advantage, 47-26.

Pirri scores again

Brandon Pirri cannot stop scoring goals. Fourteen minutes into the second, Brayden McNabb sprung Pirri loose for a breakaway and Pirri did not miss. Carey Price got a piece of it, but it trickled through the five-hole to give the Golden Knights a 3-2 lead.

Earlier in the frame, Jonathan Marchessault connected on his 13th goal of the season at 4:52. First he fed William Karlsson for a one-timer that was saved then gave it to Brayden McNabb for a shot that was saved. Marchessault was there to collect the rebound and put it home to give the Holden Knights a 2-1 lead.

It was Karlsson's second assist of the afternoon, and McNabb picked up his second on Pirri's second goal.

Montreal's needed replay, but its goal held up and tied the game not long after. Jordie Benn fired a wrister from the point, and after taking a look to see if Phillip Danault's stick was high, it was ruled a good goal as Danault's redirection beat Marc-Andre Fleury to even the game with 11:50 left in the second.

Even after the first period

Brandon Pirri is here to score goals.

Pirri collected a rebound off an Alex Tuch wraparound attempt and back-handed it home for his second goal in as many games since joining the team from the AHL. He has five goals in four games with Vegas over the last two years.

The Canadiens got on the board early with a little help from former Golden Knight Tomas Tatar. Tatar brought the puck into the zone, left it for Brendan Gallagher, who slid the puck over to Phillip Danault for a one-timer from the top of the right circle.

It was Tatar's 13th assist and 25th point of the season in his 37th game. He had six points in 20 games with Vegas last season.

The Canadiens outshot Vegas 17-8 in the first period, and probably should have had at least one more. Paul Byron had a breakaway attempt that Marc-Andre Fleury stopped, but was more impressive was Fleury diving across the net to stop the second and third offering from the Canadiens.

Pre-game

For the first time in what seems like forever, the Golden Knights will break up their top line.

Vegas saw success Thursday by switching the lines mid-game and putting Alex Tuch up with William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, and the Golden Knights will stick with that when they take on the Montreal Canadiens at 1 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

"They played real well and I'm going to give it a shot again today," coach Gerard Gallant said. "Sometimes when you tweak things a little bit, things work out."

The second line is expected to be Paul Stastny between Brandon Pirri and Reilly Smith.

The players said swapping places in the lineup does not affect them much. They all know each other, and they don't change their game based on who is beside them, even if their styles clash, like Smith being more of a facilitator and Tuch more the drive-to-the-net scorer.

"He's big, he's super fast, he has a good shot, I think it's something we can definitley take advantage of and he's a good player," Marchessault said. "Obviously (Smith) is an amazing player, but (Tuch) is good too so we'll see how it goes.

The newly aligned top-six will meet a Canadiens team currently in the Eastern Conference's second Wild Card spot. Max Domi, acquired from Arizona in the offseason, has given Montreal a spark up the middle and he leads the team with 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists).

Then there's Tomas Tatar. The Golden Knights traded for him at last year's trade deadline then after he never quite fit in, traded him to the Canadiens this summer. He has 12 goals and 12 assists this year and scored the game-winning goal in Montreal's comeback victory over Vegas on Nov. 10.

Emerson’s Prediction: Golden Knights 2, Canadiens 1

Season record for predictions: Keefer 5-4, Emerson 4-3

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-195, Canadiens plus-148; over/under: 6 (minus-115, plus-104)

Golden Knights (20-15-2) (11-3-1 home)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Goals leader: William Karlsson (14)

Assists leader: Reilly Smith (18)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.56 gaa, .907 save percentage)

Montreal Canadiens (18-13-5) (8-6-3 road)

Coach: Claude Julien (second season)

Goals leader: Brendan Gallagher (15)

Assists leader: Jeff Petry (20)

Expected goalie: Carey Price (2.84 gaa, .905 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected game day roster

Forwards (12): Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Carpenter, William Carrier, Cody Eakin, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Nosek, Brandon Pirri, Ryan Reaves, Paul Stastny, Reilly Smith, Alex Tuch

Defensemen (6): Deryk Engelland, Nick Holden, Brad Hunt, Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore

Goalies (2): Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban