Hutson scores late in OT, Canadiens hand Stars 5th straight loss

DALLAS – Lane Hutson scored with 1:20 remaining in overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Hutson, who also had an assist, skated down from the blue line and scored on a wrist shot from the right circle following a face-off win in the offensive zone.

“I feel you’re always trying to play to your standards,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “You’ve got to be careful in comparing yourself to all the other teams, but when you get an opportunity like this, you want to see how you stack up. We feel we have the brand right now and a group that can compete with anybody.

“That doesn’t guarantee the result, but I feel all season we’ve put ourselves in a pretty good spot. We’ve proven that we can compete and we’re just trying to maximize the result when we can, and I thought we did that tonight.”

Juraj Slafkovsky also had a goal and an assist, and Brendan Gallagher and Oliver Kapanen scored for the Canadiens (23-13-6), who have won four of six (4-1-1) and were coming off a 2-0 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Sam Montembeault made 24 saves, including a key one on a breakaway by Dallas forward Wyatt Johnston the shift before the game-winning goal.

“He came out of nowhere,” Montembeault said. “I didn’t think there was a player for them coming with that much speed. I was able to get my gap quick, and I read the shot well. It was a good save for us. After that, we won a great face-off on the other end and [Hutson] got a big goal for us.”

Johnston had two goals, and Mavrik Bourque scored for the Stars (25-9-8), who have lost five in a row (0-2-3). Jake Oettinger made 25 saves.

“I think we had a lot of good looks in the third, and even some good looks to get the lead,” Johnston said. “Every goalie in the League is a great goalie, so it’s not easy to score on anyone. It’s not easy to get chances against any teams, so you just have to keep pushing and doing those things that make us successful. There’s no real secret recipe, really, it’s just doing everything the right way and getting those looks.”

Gallagher gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 8:42 of the first period when he deflected a shot by Alexandre Carrier in the high slot.

“This group is a resilient group,” Gallagher said. “Tough schedule, tough travel, early game in a tough building, and I thought the guys played really good. They’re a good team. They make deep runs in the playoffs for a reason. You know they’re not going to go away. They certainly had a push.”

Bourque tied it 1-1 at 13:53 on a wraparound goal that beat Montembeault five-hole from the left side of the net.

“I think I did a good job, obviously I wanted the one backdoor [look], but the goalie made a good save,” Bourque said. “I just have to stick with it, and, I mean, just keep gunning and my offense is going to come.”

Johnston gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 10:14 of the second period on a shot from the slot as the power play expired.

Kapanen tied it 2-2 at 11:59 on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle.

“Probably the biggest thing for me is that second period,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “You take four penalties. First of all, you lose a lot of guys momentum-wise when you take four [penalties], and then you give them an opportunity. Obviously, they go up 3-2, and then it's a battle back, right in the third. So, we do have to clean that up.”

Slafkovsky scored on the power play to put the Canadiens back ahead 3-2 at 18:39 on a shot from the slot.

“It’s been really good recently. Just finding the ways how to create plays and get the puck on the net,” Slafkovsky said. “I have been doing a lot of good stuff, and I just have to keep showing up like this every night. I feel really good on the ice. I see more plays, and I am able to make more plays. I just feel great, overall, and just want to keep working and keep playing this way.”

Johnston tied it 3-3 at 11:07 of the third period, scoring from the bottom of the left circle.

“We have been great on the road all season so far, so we have loads of confidence there. It’s time to step up,” Dallas forward Radek Faksa said. “We didn’t play very well after the [holiday] break, so it’s time to step up. The [Olympic] break is coming up really soon, so we need to finish on a good note before that.”

NOTES: Hutson (21 years, 324 days) became the third-youngest defenseman in Canadiens history to score an overtime goal, behind only P.K. Subban (21 years, 249 days on Jan. 17, 2011) and Kaiden Guhle (21 years, 297 days on Nov. 11, 2023). … Phillip Danault had two assists to surpass 400 career points, his first points since rejoining Montreal following a trade from the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 19. Danault recorded 194 of those points during his first stint with the Canadiens from 2015-16 to 2020-21. … The Canadiens earned their 13th comeback win of the season. The only team with more is the Flyers (14).