Canadiens salvage split with Canucks in shootout

MONTREAL-- The Montreal Canadiens won for the first time after regulation this season, ending the Vancouver Canucks' four-game winning streak with a 5-4 shootout victory at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Tomas Tatar scored in the sixth round against Braden Holtby for Montreal (14-8-9), which has a point in four straight games (2-0-2).
"It was a big roller-coaster game, so we stayed with it and it's a big two points for sure," Tatar said.
Holtby made 36 saves in his first start in nine games for Vancouver (16-16-3), which was 7-1-0 in eight starts by Thatcher Demko since Holtby's previous start (March 2, a 5-2 loss at the Winnipeg Jets).
"It was a tough game, give Montreal credit, they played well tonight," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "It was a hard-fought game. I like that we battled back. We weren't playing well, I didn't like the second half of the second period, and a hard game for our team and a point well earned."
Carey Price, who backed up Jake Allen in a 3-2 overtime loss to Vancouver on Friday, made 14 saves and allowed one goal in six shootout attempts. He is 5-1-2 in his past eight starts.
The Canadiens were 0-9 after regulation this season (0-6 in overtime, 0-3 in shootouts).
"It's definitely nice to get the proverbial monkey off our back," Price said. "So let's move on, and if we have another one we'll try to win that one."
Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal to tie it 4-4 at 5:29 of the third period with a wrist shot off a face-off win by Phillip Danault.

Vancouver scored 33 seconds apart in the first minute of the third. Bo Horvat scored at 22 seconds to tie it at 3-3, and Tyler Motte made it 4-3 at 55 seconds.
Montreal held Vancouver to two shots in the first period, none over the last 16:32.
Nick Suzuki gave Montreal a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 6:26 on a wrist shot over Holtby's left arm from the top of the right face-off circle.
Jake Virtanen scored 22 seconds into the second period to tie it 1-1, and Vancouver took a 2-1 lead at 8:08 on Brock Boeser's power-play goal, a one-timer off a pass from Quinn Hughes.
"We didn't give up many opportunities and we really paid a price for our mistakes," Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme said.

Tatar tied it 2-2 at 13:44 with a wrist shot past Holtby's glove from the right side of the slot, and Joel Edmundson put Montreal up 3-2 at 18:21 on a wrist shot through traffic for his first goal since Jan. 23 (25 games).
The Canadiens are fourth in the Scotia North Division, two points ahead of the Canucks, who have played four more games. The top four teams will make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"There are still things we've got to get better at, but overall I think our game's pretty solid," Horvat said. "We're playing Canuck hockey right now, how we want to play. But there's always room for improvement."
NOTES: Montreal forward Tyler Toffoli was scratched because of a lower-body injury he sustained late in the game Friday. He will be reevaluated Sunday. ... The Canadiens were 6-0-3 during the nine-game season series. The teams combined to score 67 goals, the NHL's highest scoring season series since 1992-93, when six sets of teams scored that many goals. ... The Canadiens are 14-0-4 against the Canucks since a 5-1 win at Vancouver on Oct. 27, 2015. The Canucks have not defeated the Canadiens in regulation at Montreal in 14 years. The Canadiens are 12-0-2 here since the Canucks won 4-0 on Jan. 16, 2007.