Canadiens rally to defeat Lightning

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens continued their torrid start despite their busy schedule of late.
Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty and Torrey Mitchell scored third-period goals, and Montreal extended its winning streak to six with a 3-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Galchenyuk tied the score at 1-1 with his second goal of the season on a power play at 6:12, Pacioretty put the Canadiens ahead with his second goal at 10:23, and Mitchell scored his fourth goal into an empty net with 44 seconds remaining.
Montreal, playing its fourth game in five days, won 3-2 at the New York Islanders on Wednesday after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 at home on Monday.
"We've played a lot of hockey, but we haven't really relied on too many individuals to take over," Pacioretty said. "So I think when we have everyone rolling like this and we have everyone in the game and making a difference, it makes it easier to play back to back and a lot of games at once."

Carey Price, rested Wednesday, made 29 saves. He is 4-0-0 in four starts for the Canadiens (7-0-1) since missing the first three games with the flu.
"The number of big saves he comes up with is pretty impressive, but again, not surprised," Mitchell said. "He makes it look easy, it's ridiculous. It's so nice to have him on our team."
Alex Killorn scored for a third straight game to give Tampa Bay (5-2-0) a 1-0 lead at 16:08 of the second period.
It was Killorn's second three-game goals streak of the season. He leads the Lightning with six goals in seven games after scoring 14 goals in 81 games last season.
Ben Bishop made 23 saves for Tampa Bay, which lost for the first time in six games against Eastern Conference teams.
"You've got to get more shots if you want to win against Carey Price," Killorn said. "He's just too good of a goalie to not get clear shots in."
The Lightning won the first two games of their six-game road trip.
"It's weird, because I don't know if that was the most exciting game ever played, but you have two really good teams that can skate and check, and two teams are checking each other," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Like, who got the first one, Galchenyuk? That's a sick play he's got to make. That's on and off the stick. Not a lot of guys can do that. That's what it took to beat (Bishop). Our goal, it's a great pass. World class goalies don't have chances on those. The third one, what was that, Pacioretty? Comes whipping around the corner. He's scored a few goals in his career.
"Look at the goals that went in, they weren't gifts. They got the extra bounce and we didn't."

Goal of the game

Pacioretty pointed to the work of linemates David Desharnais and Andrew Shaw that helped him put the Canadiens ahead 2-1. "I enjoy playing with those two," Pacioretty said. "Guys like that don't often get credit, but they're guys everybody wants to play with, so in my book that makes them great players and great teammates."

Save of the game

Price's pad save on Ondrej Palat's shot from the goalmouth on a power play 21 seconds into the third period held Tampa Bay's lead to a goal.

Highlight of the game

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman's slap pass set up Killorn for a deflection that not even Price could stop. "(Hedman) has great vision, and even though he wasn't looking at me, I knew he could see me," Killorn said. "So I just got to the net and put my stick on the ice."

Unsung moment of the game

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien moved Alexander Radulov onto his top line with Galchenyuk and right wing Brendan Gallagher in the third period. "We were trailing and we put some puzzle pieces in place to try and make a comeback, and it paid off," Therrien said. "I liked what I saw from them, both on the power play and at even strength, they created some nice plays."

They said it

"That's what it seemed like. I know it's early in the season to say that, but it seems like they're a team that plays similar to us. They've got some great players, they've kind of changed their team over the summer, but we know what we're capable of. This is the first of four matchups, it'll be exciting. I think they played well tonight. It was a tight checking game, not too many scoring chances, and they were opportunistic in the third." -- Tampa Bay left wing Alex Killorn on the game being indicative of teams that will battle for the Atlantic Division title
"We've been concentrating on the power play pretty much lately since the beginning of the year and I could feel that it's started clicking. They give us big goals at the right time, and tonight, Alex's goal was an important goal to tie the game. Everybody did their job, goal scorers scored, (Price) made big saves, and when we took the lead, the defensive guys did their job." -- Canadiens coach Michel Therrien

Need to know

Killorn scored a career-high 17 goals in 2013-14, and 15 the following season. ... Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov fell heavily into the boards in the first period after apparently losing an edge while making a turn. He left the game and did not return. "Hopefully it won't be too long, but he definitely couldn't finish the game," Cooper said. ... Canadiens forward Daniel Carr was a healthy scratch for a sixth straight game. ... Montreal defenseman Mikhail Sergachev sat for a fourth consecutive game. The 18-year-old played three of the Canadiens' first four games.

What's next

Lightning: At the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, MSG+,
NHL.TV
)
Canadiens: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, City, TVA Sports,
NHL.TV
)