About Last Night: Habs almost break Minny losing streak

Emil Heineman played 5:56 and had one shot in his first NHL game for the Montreal Canadiens.

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The Montreal Canadiens have not won in Minnesota since 2011. That futility streak was potentially a shootout away from ending, but Kirill Kaprizov scored the game winner with five seconds left in overtime to give the Wild a 4-3 win over the Habs at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

The Habs were a one line team against the Wild, but that line had a big night. Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki each had a goal and an assist for the top line. On the backend, David Savard and Mike Matheson also had two-point evenings.

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Emil Heineman made his NHL debut for the Canadiens wearing number 51, but he wasn’t a factor in 5:56 of ice-time.

The Habs haven’t won in over a decade in St. Paul, and the Wild beat them badly back in October, so you’d be forgiven for switching the channel after the first period. The Habs trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, starting with a power play goal by Matthew Boldy.

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That was followed up by a Marco Rossi goal. Coach Martin St. Louis challenged that the play was offside, but the call on the ice stood upon review.

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After getting outshot 13-3 in the first, the Habs swung momentum in the second with 12 shots compared to four for Minny. After Montreal failed to score on a power play, Savard scored from a pass by Cole Caufield to put the Habs on the board. Savard has two goals in 10 games this season.

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Then the diminutive Rossi, of all players, got his first career Gordie Howe hat trick coming to the defence of Kaprizov, who got levelled by a clean hit from Kaiden Guhle.

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Later in the period there was another uneven battle when Brendan Gallagher finished his check on Zach Bogosian, who took exception and tried to fight the much smaller Gallagher. The result was a four-minute power play for Montreal that was almost immediately negated by a Matheson minor.

At the end of the second, Marcus Foligno took another infraction when he hit Justin Barron hard in the corner. Barron was shaken up on the play but did return. The physical period had the Liveblog commenters once again wondering about a potential Arber Xhekaj callup.

With Foligno still in the box at the start of the third, Suzuki tied it up on the doorstep to make it 2-2.

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Then Joel Armia took an ill-timed trip to the box and seven seconds later, Brock Faber beat Sam Montembeault with a point shot to give the Wild a 3-2 lead. The Canadiens have a few young defencemen playing beyond their years, but it’s nothing compared to the rookie Faber, who played 33:25 last night and routinely plays over 25 minutes per game.

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With just over three minutes to play, Slafkovsky leapt to deflect a Savard shot in front to even the contest at 3-3.

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Caufield took a penalty with time winding down, but the Wild failed to score on the power play in regulation and in overtime. It wasn’t until there was five seconds left on the clock that Kirill the Thrill escaped detection and beat Montembeault with the perfect one-timer.

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The 12-year losing streak in Minnesota continues, although the Habs brushed aside an early two-goal deficit and at least left the unfriendly confines of Xcel Energy Center with a point.

Three players on the Habs stood head and shoulders above the rest last night: the top line of Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovsky. And after sporting solid under-the-hood numbers in recent games, they finally hit the scoresheet.

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The Canadiens are one game away from the holiday break with a record of 14-13-5. Their goal differential of -20 suggests some smoke and mirrors, but last night in Minny, the Habs once again found themselves battling in a one-goal game.

Sending out best wishes to longtime Liveblog commenter Michael Paul.

3. “The Canadiens deserved better, a bogus penalty leads to the third Wild goal, and an obvious interference play on Caufield is ignored leading to the game winner. -Ryan Katz

2. “So wish we had won that game. Didn’t look good after the first. Good battle to get a point. We need to stop taking stupid penalties.” -Marc Taillefer

1. “What I was going to say earlier in the game, was that at the start of the 2nd period, being down 2-0, I saw Monty go into his “Carey Price zone”. We didn’t win, but still happy. We seldom beat Minny. I’ll take the point.” -Carin Latzel

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