MONTREAL (AP) - Max Pacioretty thought he had the winning goal in overtime. Instead, the Montreal Canadiens captain gave it to a teammate a few minutes later.
Alex Galchenyuk scored in overtime for the second straight night, Carey Price made 26 saves and Montreal beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 on Tuesday night to extend its winning streak to three games.
Pacioretty thought he had scored 1:11 into overtime after a beautiful pass by Andrei Markov. The puck crossed the line when Pacioretty tried to stuff his own rebound, but the play was whistled dead first, and a lengthy video review did not overturn the call.
Pacioretty instead assisted on Galchenyuk’s goal 3:53 into OT. With Columbus’ Seth Jones in the box for holding, Galchenyuk scored with a slap shot from the point that soared into the roof of the net.
The point was Pacioretty’s 400th in the NHL. He’s the 36th player in Canadiens history to reach that milestone.
“They said that they saw the goalie cover the puck,” said Pacioretty, who has 12 points in his last nine games. “That’s hard to see when it doesn’t happen. You could see my face when I got up, because we know when it’s in. Genuinely, I believe I scored a goal.
“But Chucky’s the hero, and I’m happy for Chucky.”
Price got his third shutout this season. He started after Al Montoya backed the Canadiens in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory at New Jersey on Monday.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots for the Blue Jackets, who had won two straight.
“That was a really tight game,” Galchenyuk said. “Both goalies played amazing.”
Montreal’s three consecutive wins have all come in overtime. The Canadiens have not won a game in regulation since Jan. 31.
Newly-acquired defenseman Jordie Benn made his Canadiens debut. The 29-year-old was traded to Montreal from the Dallas Stars on Monday for defenseman Greg Pateryn and a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft.
“Back and forth, pretty entertaining for the fans,” said Benn, who played all 302 games of his NHL career with the Stars before Tuesday. “To be listening to the fans cheer, it was pretty surreal. To have that jersey on and have them cheer like that, it’s definitely hockey heaven.”
Montreal made another deal after the game, acquiring physical forward Steve Ott from the Detroit Red Wings for a sixth-round pick in the 2018 draft.
A couple of early power plays gave Montreal all the momentum, but the home team failed to capitalize.
Luck was on Montreal’s side as the Jackets beat Price on several occasions but couldn’t beat his posts. Columbus hit four pucks off the iron, including Zach Werenski’s shot off the crossbar 19 seconds into the contest.
“It was a fun game to be involved in,” Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “Both teams played well and both teams played hard. I liked our attack, especially in overtime. We tried to win the game. We had some really good chances.
“We’ll take that point and get out of here. It was a very evenly played game.”
NOTES: In the first intermission, the Canadiens announced they had traded forward David Desharnais to the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Brandon Davidson. … Desharnais played 435 regular season games with Montreal after joining the Canadiens organization in 2008. The 25-year-old Davidson, who was drafted by the Oilers in the sixth round in 2010, has five goals and eight assists in 91 career games with Edmonton. Desharnais was a healthy scratch against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Return home to face Western Conference-leading Minnesota on Thursday night.
Canadiens: Host Nashville on Thursday night.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.