TBL@MTL: Sweet redemption

MONTREAL - If you're going to come out on top against the League's top team, you're likely to need a big, timely goal and a big, timely save to get you there.

Well, on Thursday night against Tampa Bay, the Canadiens got a clutch goal from captain Max Pacioretty and a colossal save from Carey Price, and they ended their five-game losing streak and took down the Lightning 2-1 in a shootout.
Much like they did seven nights before, the Habs started out strong and tested Andrei Vasilevskiy early and often. Pacioretty, in fact, nearly scored on the game's first shot just 23 seconds in, but the Tampa Bay netminder denied him, and also prevented Andrew Shaw from burying a solid chance close to five minutes later and Paul Byron once more in the first period's dying seconds.
Nineteen minutes and 57 seconds after Pacioretty's first golden opportunity, No. 67 grabbed the puck on a botched zone clearance from former Hab Mikhail Sergachev and unleashed a lethal wrister that went right through Vasilevskiy and into the Lightning net.
Alex Galchenyuk didn't even need to watch the whole sequence play out to know that the shot would result in a goal, which would break Pacioretty's 13-game goalless drought.
"It was a big goal for us and a big goal for him. Personally, I know what he can do," Galchenyuk said of Pacioretty, who led the way with five shots on net and added two hits and a blocked shot. "When he touched the puck at the blue line, I lifted my hands up already; I knew it was going in. I was happy for him."

The Bell Centre may have erupted in celebration as the proverbial monkey was lifted off the captain's back, but Pacioretty was a little more conservative in describing the sentiment that came with it.
"It felt pretty decent," he deadpanned, in what can only be classified as the understatement of the year.
The goal put the Habs ahead 1-0, but that lead didn't last long, as Nikita Kucherov replied for the visitors. In a back-and-forth, wide open game, both teams battled hard for the win. But after 76 shots between them in regulation couldn't decide the outcome, the game headed to overtime.
Enter the colossal save.
Two saves, actually. The first one came on a Tyler Johnson shot from the hash marks, which Price swatted away with his glove. In the process, though, the 30-year-old backstop found himself flat on his back, but somehow managed to get his body in front of Ondrej Palat's rebound attempt from the slot.
"I just tried to make the initial save and wound up on my back, and tried to keep my eye on the puck," Price recounted. "I just stayed patient, and luckily, I guessed right.
"I lost it for a second, but when I rolled over, I regained sight of it."

If the fans were vocal for the Pacioretty goal, then you can only imagine what they sounded like for the game-saving stop. And again, when Byron scored in the shootout, and when Price then denied Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos' attempts thereafter to secure the win.
"[The fans] come every night and the beer is the same price, fans are looking for the same show every night and we weren't able to do it last game, but as they saw that we were creating some plays, you felt the buzz in the building," recalled Pacioretty. "That's the way we take over teams when we win games: we have the best building to play in, we have a fast ice, a fast team, fast boards, and that leads to entertaining hockey. Last game, we were upset with our game, we were upset we didn't give the fans anything really to cheer about. So tonight, to get them involved and see them having fun makes you remember why we're playing here and why it's special to play in this building."

This game was about more than just a key goal and an epic save. The Habs offered up hits, scoring chances, smart defensive plays, strong skating - in short, it was as complete - and exciting - a game as they come.
"I thought for a couple of periods, we played great in Tampa [in December], but we didn't get the outcome we wanted. Today, we played a full 65 minutes. It was a big win. We talked about it, we were excited, you could feel the energy in the room," concluded Galchenyuk. "We wanted this one badly, especially a team like that. We're happy we got the result."