62°F
weather icon Partly Cloudy

Tomas Tatar haunts Golden Knights in Canadiens’ 5-4 win

Updated November 10, 2018 - 10:36 pm

MONTREAL The storyline from Saturday’s matchup at Bell Centre centered on a player motivated to face his former team.

Oh, and Max Pacioretty returned to Montreal, too.

Tomas Tatar scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:43 remaining in the third period in a cruel bit of irony, sending the Golden Knights to a deflating 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Centre.

“We worked hard for 20 minutes. It was unbelievable. It was no contest,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “And then you get away from it in the second period, they get three goals in the first 10 minutes. It’s about work ethic. It’s about working hard and competing hard, and we haven’t done it enough consistently.”

Pacioretty spent 10 seasons with the Canadiens, including the past three as captain, before being traded to the Knights on Sept. 9.

He was honored with a video tribute before the opening faceoff and received a loud ovation from the announced crowd of 21,302.

But Tatar, who was part of that blockbuster deal for Pacioretty, ended up as the hero.

After the Knights were unable to break out of their own zone, Tatar pounced on a loose puck and made a move around defenseman Shea Theodore, who dived to try to recover.

Tatar backhanded a pass in the direction of teammate Phillip Danault, but the puck went off Theodore and slid through the legs of Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Tatar has seven goals and 15 points in 17 games with the Canadiens. He managed four goals and two assists in 20 games with the Knights after being acquired at the trade deadline in February for three draft picks.

“It felt good, for sure,” Tatar said. “I was extremely motivated to beat my old teammates, and it will always be a special game against them, for sure.”

William Karlsson had a goal and two assists for the Knights. Defenseman Brad Hunt added a goal and an assist.

The Knights caught a break early in the third period to retake the lead at 4-3. Karlsson’s drive from the left wing was stopped by goaltender Antti Niemi, but the rebound went off Montreal’s Matthew Peca and trickled over the goal line at 3:27.

“It was a very lucky bounce, and I was thinking maybe this is our game,” Karlsson said. “It’s little stuff. They’re very good when they’re counterattacking, a fast team, and they made the most of our mistakes.”

But the Knights were unable to hold the lead. Andrew Shaw pounced on a rebound with 10:40 remaining for his second goal.

SHORT DESCRIPTION (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

“It seems like the story of our year so far, mine in particular,” Pacioretty said. “Just seemed to not go in, and all the opportunities against are going in. The good news is, minus the second-period hiccups that we’ve had, if we keep going like that, it’s going to eventually break wide open for us.”

The Knights continued their recent trend of starting fast and led 2-0 after the first period. Brad Hunt scored on a power play off a nice feed from Karlsson with 2:20 left. Jonathan Marchessault was credited with his team-high eighth goal 57 seconds later when Reilly Smith’s pass deflected in off his linemate.

But Montreal responded in the second period with three goals in a span of 3:53 before Alex Tuch collected his own rebound and beat Niemi to tie the score 3-3 with 5:26 remaining in the second period.

“We have a 2-0 lead. We worked hard in the first period, and we just can’t limit the bleeding,” Marchessault said. “We don’t have a full effort. We always fall asleep. We don’t have 20 guys every night, always just a couple. You don’t win with just a couple guys.”

More Golden Knights: Follow online at reviewjournal.com/GoldenKnights and @HockeyinVegas on Twitter.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
5 facts about the NHL’s Stanley Cup

Get to know the NHL’s championship trophy better before it gets awarded to either the Vegas Golden Knights or the Washington Capitals.