Eric Staal scored the overtime winner in his Montreal debut to give the host Canadiens a clutch 3-2 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Staal, who was acquired by trade from the Buffalo Sabres, made his mark at 4:02 of the extra frame when he ripped a wrist shot from the right circle for his fourth goal of the season. Josh Anderson and Tomas Tatar netted third-period goals for Montreal to erase a 2-0 deficit, while goaltender Carey Price stopped 21 shots. Montreal has won four of five meetings with the Oilers this season
Montreal, which won for just the second time this season when trailing after two periods, is on a 5-1-2 run.
Devin Shore and Darnell Nurse replied for the Oilers, who received a 29-save performance from goaltender Mike Smith.
Despite the Canadiens controlling play from the drop of the puck – shots were 7-1 for Montreal at the seven-minute mark – Shore opened the scoring with 20.2 seconds remaining in the opening period. Jujhar Khaira held off a check while he scooted behind the net and sent a pass across the crease that Shore converted for his third goal of the season. Nurse then doubled the Edmonton lead with 10.2 seconds remaining in the second period. With only a few seconds remaining on a power play, Nurse gained the puck and blasted a point shot for his career-high 13th goal of the season.
However, Josh Anderson’s goal 105 seconds into the third period gave the Canadiens a much-needed jolt and cued the comeback. Anderson was parked at the doorstep and from there redirected Corey Perry’s pass into the net for his 14th goal of the season and third in two games. Then, Tatar’s tally at the 5:23 mark of the third period tied the clash. Paul Byron intercepted a Nurse clearing attempt, fed a pass to Tatar, and he buried a wrist shot to earn his eighth goal of the campaign.
The Canadiens paid for the win as forward Brendan Gallagher left late in the first period after a slap shot from teammate Alexander Romanov hit his hand. In 34 games this season, Gallagher has 14 goals and nine assists.
Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said after the game that Gallagher broke his right thumb.

Travis Sanheim’s OT goal gives
Flyers first win over Bruins
Travis Sanheim scored 3:08 into overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers finally figured out Boston, beating the host Bruins 3-2 on Monday night.
Denied on a point-blank chance 53 seconds into the three-on-three session, Sanheim blocked Patrice Bergeron’s long shot, collected the puck and skated in alone on the retreating Boston captain.
But Bergeron fell down at the Boston blue line, allowing the big defenseman to roof home the game-winning goal for his second tally of the season.
Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier scored, Ivan Provorov posted two assists and Brian Elliott (10-5-1) stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Flyers, who won for the first time in six tries (1-3-2) against Boston.
Bergeron’s power-play goal moved him past Rick Middleton and into fourth in all-time Bruins scoring with 899 points. Karson Kuhlman also scored for Boston.
Earlier Monday, Boston announced that goaltender Jaroslav Halak entered the NHL’s Covid-19 protocol after his positive test, turning the crease over to backup Dan Vladar, 23, for just his fourth NHL start.
The 6-foot-5 rookie manned the crease for the first time ever against the Flyers and allowed three goals on 32 shots – including a great kick save on Sanheim’s attempt to start overtime – but fell to 2-1-1.
After falling behind by two goals in Saturday’s shootout loss to the New York Islanders, Philadelphia played from out front in the opening period at TD Garden by grabbing a 1-0 lead at 10:15.
Provorov’s long point shot was deflected in the slot, and the ensuing carom landed on Konecny’s stick in front of Boston’s open cage. He then potted his eighth goal to put the visitors up. However, the Bruins tied it after a nice pinch by defenseman Jakub Zboril along the wall led to a turnover. Kuhlman wristed his second goal of the year on Elliott’s glove side at 17:33.
On a power play that carried over into the second period, David Pastrnak found Bergeron cruising alone through the slot in the first minute and sent a slap pass that the Boston captain redirected in for his 12th goal.
During Philadelphia’s third power play, Couturier skated in and sent a sharp wrister in at 6:56 of the third to knot the contest at 2 and eventually send it to overtime.
On Tuesday night in Philadelphia, the clubs meet again to finish up the back-to-back set.


results
Canadiens    3-2    Oilers
Avalanche    5-4    Wild
Flyers    3-2    Bruins
Golden Knights    6-1    Blues
Maple Leafs    5-2    Flames
Jets    4-2    Senators
Coyotes    5-2    Kings