Published April 28, 2016
Max Pacioretty and Lars Eller scored in the shootout, leading the Montreal Canadiens past the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night and ending a five-game winless streak.
David Desharnais and Tomas Fleischmann had goals for Montreal in regulation, and outshot Toronto 26-15 during the three periods. Mike Condon finished with 17 saves for the Canadiens, who were 0-4-1 in their last five and had won just two of their previous nine while going 2-6-1.
Peter Holland had the lone goal for Toronto in the shootout, which followed a busy overtime in which both teams had chances to win it.
Toronto's Josh Leivo was penalized with 3:06 remaining in the third period for delay of the game when he took a swing at the puck with his stick and knocked it over the glass. But Montreal could not capitalize as its power play finished 0 for 4 in regulation time.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the Maple Leafs cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second period and tied it at 4:37 of the third period when Joffrey Lupul scored on a rebound of a shot by Holland that Condon could not hang onto. Nazem Kadri also scored for Toronto, and Morgan Rielly had two assists in his 200th NHL game.
James Reimer made a big stop on Montreal's Brendan Gallagher midway through the third to preserve the 2-2 tie. The Leafs goalie got some help when a Canadiens shot hit one post, trickled along the goal line, hitting the other post but staying out.
The Original Six matchup was highlighted by a pregame ceremony honoring Dave Keon and the late Turk Broda and Tim Horton for their inductions into the Leafs' Legends Row.
But it took the Canadiens just 1:41 to end the festivities with Desharnais beating Reimer on their first shot after the Leafs failed to clear their zone and Dale Weise, attracting three Toronto players in the slot, found Desharnais alone in the face-off circle to the right of Reimer. It was his ninth of the season.
The Canadiens won their first nine games of the season and cruised to a 19-4-3 start. But coming into Saturday's game, they had gone 4-16-1 since and dropped out of a postseason spot. Montreal goalie Carey Price has been sidelined since suffering a lower-body injury Oct. 29 in a 4-3 loss at Edmonton. The Canadiens were 9-2-0 at the time.
Price's replacement had an easy start to Saturday's game as the Canadiens had 12 shots on Reimer before Condon faced a shot at the other end, a dribbler with 8:30 left in the first period.
Fleischmann scored his ninth of the season with shot No. 14 late in the period, beating Reimer with a shot from the slot after a nifty drop pass by Eller.
Montreal outshot Toronto 14-3 in the period. The Leafs pushed back to start the second and got some reward midway through the period when Rielly, flying down the flank, found Kadri charging to the front of goal. The Leafs center redirected the puck past Condon for his ninth.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/pacioretty-eller-score-in-so-canadiens-top-maple-leafs-3-2