Canadiens hold off Golden Knights in Game 2, even series

LAS VEGAS --The Montreal Canadiens evened the Stanley Cup Semifinals with a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.

Tyler Toffoli, Joel Armia and Paul Byron scored for the Canadiens, who have won eight of their past nine games. Carey Price made 29 saves.
"You get that bounce early, you play with the lead, you're not chasing the game," Montreal forward Corey Perry said. "It falls into place from there. I thought the guys played well, kept that momentum, and rode it."

Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry had an assist in 20:47 of ice time. He had not played since injuring his hand in Game 3 of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets.
"He's an important player for us on both sides," Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme said. "The way he defends, the way he moves and the way he moves the puck, it's really good. He's a gamer. Every time you get in the critical moment in big games, you see him at his best."
Alex Pietrangelo scored twice for the Golden Knights, who had won five in a row. Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves.
Game 3 of the best-of-7 series is at Montreal on Friday (8 p.m. ET; USA, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We've been burnt before. We got burnt again tonight," Vegas captain Mark Stone said. "You can't go down 2-0 and expect to win the game. The last two periods I thought we played pretty well, but chasing the game is not an easy task against anybody, but these guys play a good team game when they get the lead."

Armia gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 6:12 of the first period, shooting past the outstretched pad of Fleury after Joel Edmundson's shot attempt deflected off the skate of Vegas forward William Carrier.
Toffoli made it 2-0 at 16:30. He fanned on a one-timer off a pass from Cole Caufield, but the puck managed to beat Fleury five-hole.
Toffoli has scored 10 points (five goals, five assists) during an eight-game point streak, which is one shy of tying Larry Robinson (1978) and Guy Lafleur (1977) for the longest in Canadiens playoff history.
"A little disappointed obviously with our first 10 minutes," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think we should have been better. We had no excuse tonight. Unfortunately, you get to the final four, you spot a team two goals, you're playing with fire."
Vegas had chances to score early in the second period. Max Pacioretty hit the post on a partial breakaway at 3:22, and Alec Martinez took a one-timer from below the left circle at 5:17 which Price was able to get a piece of with his body.
Byron made it 3-0 at 17:45 of the second period with a backhand on a breakaway.
"We had lots of chances to score. The power play needs to score (0-for-2)," Stone said. "We had opportunities to claw our way back in the game, but you go down two after the first and then you get down 3-0, it's a tough hill to climb."
Pietrangelo cut it to 3-1 at 18:46 when his shot from the right point following a face-off win by Keegan Kolesar made it through traffic. He then got the Golden Knights to within 3-2 at 14:46 of the third period with a shot that went through the legs of Petry and under Price's glove.

Vegas outshot Montreal 27-11 in the second and third periods.
"We showed some good composure, but I think we can still do a better job," Ducharme said. "We wanted to support the puck better. I think we did that, and it paid off."
NOTES:Caufield extended his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists). … Pietrangelo has scored 61 points (11 goals, 50 assists) since making his playoff debut in 2012, which is tied for second in the NHL among defensemen behind Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning (77).