Terry has 3 points in return, Ducks edge Canadiens on late goal

MONTREAL -- Troy Terry had a goal and two assists in his return, and Cutter Gauthier scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period for the Anaheim Ducks in a 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Sunday.

“It was a good response for us to cap off the road trip,” Terry said. “We played the right way.”

Terry had missed the previous nine games because of an upper-body injury.

“You look at his numbers there, he’s a plus player (plus-10 this season), I think he’s got a point a game (48 points in 47 games), he plays important minutes (18:16),” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “It’s a big add to our team when he’s back in our lineup. He gives you a lot of options. ... He gives us a deeper look and greater balance.”

Leo Carlsson had two goals and an assist, and Chris Kreider had two assists for Anaheim (37-27-3), which had lost two in a row, including 2-0 at the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Lukas Dostal made 27 saves.

“That line being back together, obviously at the start of the year they were as good as anybody in the game,” Quenneville said. “Leo had his speed in the middle, Troy came back and added some possession game and some patience and play recognition, and (Kreider) was skating and moving, and they scored some nice, pretty goals.”

Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, Cole Caufield scored, and Jacob Fowler made 24 saves for Montreal (36-20-10), which was coming off a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

“I found late in the third period, the last six or seven minutes, we didn’t manage risk properly,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I felt we were too aggressive and lacked a bit of execution. We gave up good chances late in the game that we didn’t have to give them.”

Terry tied it 3-3 at 15:39 of the second period. He kicked Kreider’s cross-ice pass to his stick in the right circle and lifted a backhand over Fowler’s glove.

Gauthier put the Ducks in front 4-3 with 2:30 remaining in the third period. Jeffrey Viel won a battle along the boards with Kaiden Guhle and sent a backhand pass to Gauthier, who scored five-hole from the right circle.

“(Fowler) made some really good saves at big times as well, but we’ve got to limit those chances,” Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said. “We know we can create those chances, I think it’s in terms of limiting them that’s certainly an area we can improve in.”

Carlsson gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 7:46 of the first period after finishing a pretty passing play on a 3-on-2 rush. Terry began the sequence by passing across to Kreider, who then fed the puck down low to Carlsson for a tap-in into the open net at the right post.

Carlsson scored his second goal of the game 27 seconds into the second period to make it 2-0. He won a face-off in the left circle before flaring out into the high slot and scoring with a one-timer off a pass from Jackson LaCombe.

Alex Newhook cut it to 2-1 at 1:33 with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Lane Hutson.

Caufield then tied it 2-2 with his 39th goal of the season at 2:33. He took a stretch pass from Noah Dobson, skated down the left side on a rush and snapped a shot past Dostal's glove from the circle.

Suzuki put Montreal ahead 3-2 at 13:06. Juraj Slafkovsky skated the puck out of the defensive zone and through the neutral zone before passing over to Suzuki, who beat Dostal under his glove from the right circle.

“We had a good start,” Terry said. “They came humming pretty good in the middle of it. We just stuck with it right up until the 55-minute mark, or whatever it was, to take the lead.”

Defenseman John Carlson played his first game with Anaheim since being acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on March 6. He was plus-1 in 22:59 of ice time.

“He was a horse. Wow, what a game,” Quenneville said. “That was impressive. I mean, just coming into our team, systematically he looked like he played here his whole career. And poised, patient, play recognition, there’s a lot of kids back there that he’s helping every shift. I can’t speak highly enough of what we just saw in one game.”

NOTES: Ducks forward Mason McTavish was a healthy scratch. He had two assists in 12 games since returning from an upper-body injury that caused him to miss five games. … Canadiens forward Kirby Dach left the game with an upper-body injury shortly after he fell to the ice following a hit by Viel at 3:30 of the first. There was no update postgame.