Maple Leafs snap 14-game losing streak to Canadiens
MONTREAL -- The Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Montreal Canadiens with a 4-3 overtime victory at Bell Centre on Saturday.
Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the season 48 seconds into the extra session to give Toronto its first win against Montreal since Jan. 18, 2014.
James van Riemsdyk and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs and Frederik Andersen made 31 saves.
Jeff Petry, Alex Galchenyuk and Jonathan Drouin scored for the Canadiens and Carey Price made 18 saves.
Drouin, with his first for the Canadiens, gave Montreal a 3-2 lead at 11:33 of the second period, 19 seconds after a video review upheld referee Jon McIssac's ruling that Matthews had batted the puck in with a high stick.
Marleau tied it 3-3 at 12:40 of the second with his third goal of the season after a video review showed he jammed the puck inside the left post before Price scooped it out of the net.
Galchenyuk had tied the game 2-2 on the power play, his first goal of the season and the Canadiens' first on the power play, with 3:11 left in the first period when the Leafs were caught flat-footed at their blue line. Galchenyuk got a lane on the right wing and scored with a wrist shot.
The Maple Leafs scored two goals in 44 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. After Price stopped Toronto forward Mitch Marner on a 2-on-1, van Riemsdyk scored with a fluttering shot off a faceoff to Price's right at 7:32 to tie the game.
Matthews got a favorable matchup with the Montreal's third defense pair on the ice and snapped a wrist shot by defenseman Brandon Davidson for his fourth goal of the season at 8:16.
Petry opened the scoring when he took a pass from Drouin and beat Andersen to the stick side from the right point at 2:19 of the first period.
NOTES: Canadiens D Dave Schlemko was called up after a one-game conditioning stint with the Laval Rocket of the AHL, but did not play against the Leafs. Schlemko has not played an NHL game this season because of a hand injury. ... Leafs D Connor Carrick returned to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury, pushing Calle Rosen out of the lineup. ... With the Leafs platooning fourth-line centers, it was Eric Fehr's turn to go into the lineup. Dominic Moore sat out.