Barron's OT goal gives Canadiens win against Jets

WINNIPEG -- Justin Barron scored a power-play goal 1:09 into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Monday.

“I wasn’t necessarily expecting to get on the ice there, and then it’s funny how it works out,” Barron said. “My brother (Jets forward Morgan Barron) gets on for them, and then [Mike Matheson] goes off for us and I get on. Yeah, definitely pretty special to do that.”

Barron scored glove side from the high slot after Nikolaj Ehlers was assessed a minor for tripping with 27 seconds left in regulation.

"I feel like we’re locked in right now,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I really do feel that way. It’s the most organized that we’ve been since I’ve taken this job, and it takes time to build that, different parts of the game, and we’re able to expand on some of the details inside the different concepts, different parts of the game that we want to address. So I think we’re just evolving as a team, but as a group I feel we’re really locked in.”

Josh Anderson had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (14-13-4), who have earned at least one point in four of their past five games (3-1-1). Jake Allen made 30 saves for his first win since Oct. 28 (0-6-1 in previous seven starts).

“It wasn’t pretty tonight,” Allen said. “You know what, it’s not going to be perfect all the time. We’ve got to find different ways to win games. Especially if pucks bounce a little bit, it’s not on your tape all the time, it’s not perfect. Not like last game (5-3 win against the New York Islanders on Saturday) where we were snapping the puck around. We found a way to win, and a great shot by J.B.”

Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti scored for the Jets (18-9-3), who had won two straight and are 6-1-1 in December. Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves.

“In that first period there wasn’t much room out there for either team,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “It was fast-paced. It was a good period. Second period, honestly, it comes down to special teams. It’s another game that we lost (the special teams battle), and that’s what cost us the extra point.”

Anderson gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 4:57 of the second period when the rebound of Matheson's shot deflected in off his leg in front.

“I thought it was a complete job by everybody tonight,” Anderson said. “We never quit, especially when they tied it up there late in the third period. But we stuck with it and obviously our special teams came up huge for us tonight.”

Christian Dvorak extended the lead to 2-0 on a power play at 15:04. Anderson gloved down a loose puck in front, but he couldn't get a shot off and it slid over to Dvorak, who scored past the outstretched glove of Hellebuyck at the right post.

“He gets a lucky bounce as it bounces off the ice and just nicks the top of his stick,” Hellebuyck said. “For me, I hate to see that go in. There’s not really much I can do about it.”

Bowness challenged the play for a missed game stoppage, but the call was upheld after a video review determined that Anderson touched the puck with his stick, negating a hand pass.

“You feel it hit your stick, but you don’t know if that’s somebody touching your stick or if it’s the puck,” Anderson said. “Obviously, they reviewed it and counted it as a good goal, so I’ll take it.”

Vilardi cut it to 2-1 at 19:04, tucking in the puck at the left post after Josh Morrissey's one-timer from the point deflected to him.

Perfetti tied it 2-2 at 12:24 of the third period, burying a rebound in front.

“It’s good to get a point, and obviously we would have wanted to get the win there, but every point matters,” Perfetti said. “It was a good team comeback to get that point. It’s big for us, but obviously we don't want to put ourselves in a 2-0 hole in the first place.”

NOTES: Anderson has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past two games. … Vilardi has seven points (four goals, three assists) on a three-game point streak. … Winnipeg is 7-0-3 against the Eastern Conference, but 0-0-2 against Montreal. … Morrissey took a puck to the face late in the third period but returned to the game after getting stitches.