Petry scores in overtime, Canadiens defeat Ducks

MONTREAL-- Jeff Petry scored 25 seconds into overtime, and the Montreal Canadiens won for the sixth time in eight games, 3-2 against the Anaheim Ducks at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Anaheim tied the game twice before Petry came down the right side and scored on a wrist shot into the top left corner.
"A win's a win," the defenseman said. "Obviously we want to play the right way and there's things we need to clean up and do better, but at this point of the year and the situation we're in we'll take any win any way we can get them."
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Canadiens highlights]
Carey Price made 35 saves for Montreal (26-23-7), which is 8-3-0 since losing eight straight.
John Gibson made 24 saves for Anaheim (22-26-6), which had won the first two games of a five-game road trip.
Derek Grant scored for the Ducks at 2:16 of the third period to make it 2-2. Price stacked his pads to make a save on Jakob Silfverberg with 1:47 left in the period.

"Carey Price was excellent right through the game, obviously made a lot of saves," Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. "And when the game's on the line like that, that's the guy we want the puck on our stick with [Silfverberg], but obviously a huge save there by Mr. Price."
Nick Suzuki scored a power-play goal at 17:18 of the first period to give Montreal a 1-0 lead. Tomas Tatar had an assist after he was questionable because of the flu earlier in the day.
Silfverberg scored at 9:53 of the second period to tie it 1-1. Brendan Gallagher gave Montreal a 2-1 lead at 13:16.
"Obviously [Gibson] made some key saves for us too and kept us in the game and kept the momentum swinging our way," Silfverberg said. "And the same goes for them. I think they thrive on a lot of saves their goalie makes, so two similar teams in that way. So obviously both goalies were terrific tonight and unfortunately we couldn't get it done for [Gibson]."

Price and Canadiens defenseman Victor Mete returned after missing the previous game with the flu, which sidelined forward Jordan Weal for a second straight game. Forward Ryan Poehling also was scratched because of the flu.
The Canadiens were without defenseman Shea Weber, who was placed on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury he sustained in a 5-4 shootout win at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
"Obviously a lot of guys stepped up at the right times tonight and Jeff came up with a big goal there at the end," Price said.

They said it

"You can't win games with four guys on the ice. Like, that's just the way it is. And for us to take a handful (of penalties) like that, it's not a good plan when you're already struggling to score goals. So we've got to be a team that hey, our goal has got to be to take none. And if we can get through a game with just one or two, that's great." -- Ducks coach Dallas Eakins on their five minor penalties
"It's important for us with guys battling the flu bug and obviously Shea being out. He's a big piece in this lineup and I think we've dealt with it throughout the course of the year and in different situations. And I think it's our character in here, guys are going to step up and try to fill these roles and we just have to keep plugging away." -- Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry

Need to know

Canadiens forward Jake Evans had two shots on a breakaway and two hits playing 11:19 of in his NHL debut. ... Ducks forward Nicolas Deslauriers stood on the bench to acknowledge an ovation when a video tribute was shown on the scoreboard during the first period. Deslauriers played 96 games for the Canadiens the prior two seasons.

What's next

Ducks: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SNO, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, NHL.TV)