Game Recap: Canadiens 4, Wild 3

MONTREAL -- Cole Caufield scored with 15 seconds remaining in the third period to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Caufield gave Montreal its third and final lead when he one-timed a pass from Nick Suzuki past Jesper Wallstedt’s glove from the top of the right face-off circle to make it 4-3 at 19:45 of the third period.

“We just found a way to keep the puck alive, and luckily it went in,” Caufield said. “That’s why you play the full 60 [minutes] or 65, whatever it is. They all count the same, but it feels good to get two points tonight.”

Lane Hutson had a goal and an assist, Phillip Danault and Alexandre Carrier scored, while Ivan Demidov had two assists and Jakub Dobes made 16 saves for Montreal (28-15-7), which has won consecutive games.

“All our guys played the right way,” Hutson said. “We played a deep game, won a lot of puck battles and it paid off. I think we played a really good game all around.”

Vladimir Tarasenko had two power-play goals and Brock Faber also scored for Minnesota (28-14-9), which had won consecutive games, including 6-3 at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

“A point would have been huge,” Faber said. “Back-to-backs, like that, obviously getting it into overtime would have given us a chance to get two points. I think that one sucked at the end, that last shift. He’s [Caufield] the most dangerous player on the ice, and I’ve got to close harder there. That’s what he does. He scores big goals. It would have been great to give ourselves a chance to earn the two points in overtime.”

Wallstedt made 29 saves one night after Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves for the Wild.

“'Wally' played great, kept us in it all night,” Faber said. “They’ve got a fast hockey team, every single guy can skate and move. It’s hard to win here in this building. We didn’t have our best tonight. I thought we pushed back well at times and gave ourselves a chance.”

Tarasenko, who scored twice and had an assist on Monday, gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 10:44 of the first period. He got the pass from Mats Zuccarello and snapped it past Dobes stick side from the top of the right face-off circle.

Danault tied it 1-1 at 15:22, when he batted a rebound of Kaiden Guhle’s point shot between Wallstedt’s pads for his first goal in 52 games, including his previous 13 games for Montreal since he was acquired in a trade with Los Angeles on Dec. 19. Danault last scored on March 30, 2025 as a member of the Kings.

Carrier put Montreal up 2-1 at 19:08 when he tipped the puck past Wallstedt stick side after crossing through the lane of Mike Matheson’s shot from the point. It was his fourth goal in five games.

Faber evened it at 2-2 at 10:16. He tipped Vinnie Hinostroza’s shot from the left point past Dobes after it was first deflected by Kirill Kaprizov.

Hutson made it 3-2 at 12:35 when he scored on a one-timer from low in the right face-off circle on a pass from Demidov.

“I called for it once and I knew he had seen me,” Hutson said. “He’s so good at reading the play and putting the puck in a good spot for me, so it was a really nice pass.”

Minnesota had a 5-on-3 advantage for 44 seconds after Matheson was called for tripping at 8:11 of the third period with Hutson already in the penalty box for hooking.

Tarasenko tied it 3-3 at 12:40 with his second power-play goal of the game, scoring his fourth goal in two games from the right side of the net seven seconds after Hutson’s penalty expired.

“I think we played the game a little bit more north, south,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought our puck decisions were a lot better. We forced them to defend a little bit more. So we understood what was going on in the game. It was our job to get ourselves back to give ourselves a chance, and I really liked the fact that we dug in and we did that.”

NOTES: Tarasenko is the fourth player in Wild history to record multiple goals on consecutive days. Kaprizov accomplished the feat twice, on Dec. 14-15, 2024 and again on April 6-7, 2024. … It was Caufield’s 21st game-winning goal in the third period or in overtime since his debut in 2020-21. The only players with more such goals over that span are Leon Draisaitl (28), Sebastian Aho (28), Sidney Crosby (23) and Steven Stamkos (23). … Canadiens forward Kirby Dach played 16:46 and had two shots on goal in his first game since he broke his foot on Nov. 15.