Sergachev scores late in OT, lifts Utah past Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Mikhail Sergachev scored with 27 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Utah Hockey Club a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Sergachev directed a Nick Schmaltz pass through the crease inside the left post.

“We don’t have to score six every time to win the game,” Sergachev said. “We can help out our goalies a little bit and give up two, maybe one, and still win the game. And we showed it tonight. Now we’ve just got to keep it going. It’s not going to be pretty sometimes. You have to go to the net and take shots and get elbowed in the face, but you have to get through it, and I feel like our guys are doing that right now.”

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist, and Schmaltz had two assists for Utah (9-10-3), which had lost four of five. Karel Vejmelka made 11 saves.

Utah, which split its four-game road trip, is 4-3 in overtime, but had lost its previous two overtime games.

“I feel like we stayed calm all game, especially in overtime,” Utah defenseman Maveric Lamoureux said. “Finally, we had some success in overtime, and having ‘Sergey’ score here, I think that was definitely a special moment for him.”

Jayden Struble scored for a second straight game and Sam Montembeault made 26 saves for Montreal (7-12-2), which lost 6-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

“I think we played a good third period and we could have ended up with the win,” Montembeault said. “But even in overtime, we had possession for a long time there and they scored with like 20 seconds left. It’s unfortunate but we’ve got to move on.”

The Canadiens were outshot 29-13.

“I don’t think the shots were a true reflection of attempts or chances, but it was one of those nights for us,” Montreal forward Alex Newhook said.

Guenther gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 6:23 of the second period. He one-timed Clayton Keller’s cross-ice pass to score on a slap shot past Montembeault’s glove from the left face-off circle.

Struble tied it 1-1 at 8:05. He took a pass from David Savard inside the blue line and moved up to score stick side with a rising wrist shot from the top of the slot.

“He had no eyes so I put it where I wanted to and I knew he couldn’t see it,” Struble said.

Newhook scored 46 seconds into the third period to put Montreal up 2-1. He drove to the left side of the net and got to a rebound of Christian Dvorak’s shot from behind the goal line to chip a backhand over Vejmelka’s right pad.

Jack McBain tied it 2-2 at 4:17 with a one-timer from the slot on a 2-on-1 pass from Logan Cooley. McBain has scored in three straight games.

“We gave up a goal [a minute] into the third and then came back,” Sergachev said. “I didn’t see guys down on themselves on our team, and we just kept on fighting and fighting, and got rewarded.”

NOTES: Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson did not play because of a lower-body injury. He will be on Montreal’s three-game road trip. … Utah defenseman Robert Bortuzzo left the game at 14:37 of the second period when he was penalized for kneeing after his open-ice collision with Montreal forward Joshua Roy. He sustained a lower-body injury. … Roy played 11:30 and had one shot on goal in three shot attempts in his season debut after being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Schmaltz, who has yet to score, has 17 assists, the most by an NHL forward before scoring their first goal since Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders (19 assists) and Jonathan Drouin (18 assists) with Montreal in 2022-23. … Utah has not gone to a shootout this season. … Montreal is 0-2 in overtime, and 0-1 in the shootout.