Canadiens Defeat Sharks 4-3 for Third Straight Win

After a pretty offensive first period, the Montreal Canadiens earned a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks in overtime on Thursday night at Bell Centre. It was the team’s third straight win coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

It also marked the Sharks’ seventh straight loss. The Californian team hasn’t won in February, as they were unable to get a win in their six matchups during the month. Between the pipes, Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 33 shots. His last win came on Jan. 14. The Russian netminder also has not had a game where he had a higher save percentage than the opposing goaltender in 44 days.

Game Recap

The first goal of the game came early off the stick of Shark Fabian Zetterlund. The Swedish forward scored his 16^th goal of the season, only 3:56 into the first period, following a brilliant pass from Will Smith. The Habs’ response didn’t take too long, not even three minutes later, when Cole Caufield took advantage of a bad turnover to lead a 2 vs. 1 and find Nick Suzuki to tie it up.

Sam Montembault got beat for the second time of the game at 12:38 in the first period when Collin Graf deked around Owen Beck before finding Nico Sturm in front of the net. Once again, the Canadiens answer came off the captain’s stick. Nick Suzuki scored at 19:04, taking advantage of Georgiev’s lack of balance.

Smith’s second point of the game came late in the second period. The 19-year-old rookie took a precise wrist shot on a two-on-one to give the Sharks their third lead of the game. Once again, the Canadiens came back. Early in the third period, Alex Newhook completed a beautiful piece set up by Beck and Patrik Laine to level things up.

Tied at three after three, Caufield scored a beautiful filthy goal to end the game in overtime. It was his 28^th of the season. With an assist on the goal, Suzuki completed a three-point night for the second straight game.