Canadiens Draw Close But Lose in a Heartbreaker | RECAP: MTL @ MIN

GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 3 vs Minnesota Wild 4 | FINAL/OT

Forwards

22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
91 Sean Monahan - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
11 Brendan Gallagher - 28 Christian Dvorak - 56 Jesse Ylonen
51 Emil Heineman - 13 Mitchell Stephens - 40 Joel Armia

Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
47 Jayden Struble - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic

Goaltenders

Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault 
Alternate: 34 Jake Allen

Out of the lineup

Scratches: Gustav Lindstrom, Cayden Primeau, Michael Pezzetta
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Jordan Harris (lower body), Alex Newhook (lower body), Tanner Pearson (upper body)

The Minnesota Wild had returned home after a road trip with visits to Pittsburgh and Boston. Playing hosts to the Canadiens was their third game in four nights. Montreal had a day off on Tuesday and a practice on Wednesday while waiting for Minnesota to return home.

Yet it was the Wild who dominated the first period of this game putting on a clinic of puck possession. The home team got goals from Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi to take a 2-0 lead to the intermission. Shots on goal were 13-3 for Minnesota.

The second period was a chaotic, penalty-filled mess. Kaiden Guhle found himself in a fight with Rossi an unlikely combatant after the Habs defenseman delivered a crushing hit on Kirill Kaprizov. Midway through the frame, following the expiry of a Canadiens power play, David Savard got the visitors on the board.

Montreal clawed themselves back into the game early in the third period with Nick Suzuki scoring a power play goal. Brock Faber put the Wild ahead again with a shot from a distance on the power play. Juraj Slafkovsky tied the game with just over three minutes remaining in regulation.

Kaprizov scored the game-winner in overtime as Cole Caufield lost track of his man on the ice.

Emil Heineman made his NHL debut for the Canadiens but was limited to 10 shifts and just 5:56 of ice time.

Sam Montembeault was not sharp on this night allowing four goals and making 20 saves.

The Canadiens managed just two high danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 in the game.

Montreal has lost 16 of the last 17 games to the Wild.

Canadiens (14-13-5)
Shots: 25
Face-off %: 50.9
Power play: 1/5
Penalty minutes: 19
Hits: 13
Blocks:14

Wild (14-13-4)
Shots: 24
Face-off %: 49.1
Power play: 2/6
Penalty minutes: 25
Hits: 17
Blocks: 11

Canadiens Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Savard (2)
3rd period: Suzuki (9)-PPG, Slafkovsky (3)
OT: --
SO: --

Wild Scorers
1st period: Boldy (9)-PPG, Rossi (11)
2nd period: --
3rd period: Faber (2)-PPG
OT: Kaprizov (11)
SO: --

Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (OTL) 7-4-3
MIN: Gustavsson (W) 9-8-2

Nick Suzuki - Suzuki recorded a goal and an assist on six shots on goal. The Habs captain had a 69 per cent success rate at the faceoff dot.

Juraj Slafkovsky - In 17:41 of ice time, Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist. The 19-year-old will have to set a goal to control his emotions as lessons continue.

David Savard

"I think it was a bit of a strange match, with a lot of penalties. It was a close, physical match."

Martin St. Louis

"Yes, the special teams were called upon a lot and it was hard. I would have liked to roll our lines a little more. Circumstances meant that there wasn't much rhythm."

The Montreal Canadiens play one more game ahead of the Christmas break against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.

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