Montour's 4 points, OT goal lift Kraken to comeback win against Canadiens

SEATTLE — Brandon Montour scored four seconds into overtime, and the Seattle Kraken rallied back from a two-goal deficit for a 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday.

Chandler Stephenson pushed the face-off forward to Montour, who slipped behind Montreal’s defense for a breakaway and fired a snap shot over Jakub Dobes’ glove for his fourth point of the game (two goals, two assists).

“That was Chandler, to be honest. He came up with it,” Montour said. “I told Chandler just to make sure he was staying back, just in case anything went south. I saw he bumped it up, and we went for it, so it was nice to see.”

“I thought the overtime goal was brilliant,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “They set up three across, and Chandler took the opportunity to go forward and spring 'Monty' for the game winner.”

Matty Beniers tied the game with a power-play goal with 2:12 left in the third period, tipping Vince Dunn’s slap shot past Dobes’ glove to force overtime.

“Big face-off win, and Matty got it back to me,” Montour said. “We were waiting for 'Dunnsky' to get [as the extra attacker] when we pulled the goalie. Chandler settled it down a little bit, and 'Dunner' was wide open, so I got to just put a pretty slow pass, just teed it up for him.”

Jani Nyman scored his first NHL goal, Eeli Tolvanen had a goal, and Jordan Eberle had three assists for the Kraken (28-34-4), who have won two of their last three. Joey Daccord had 21 saves.

“It was a really good first period, and they get the power-play goal, and they get the 4-on-4 goal, kind of special parts of the game, and then get up in the game,” Bylsma said. “And I think going into the third, our mindset was, we thought there was enough there for us to come back in the game.”

Juraj Slafkovsky had two goals, Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist, and Lane Hutson had two assists for the Canadiens (31-27-7), who have lost three of their last four (1-1-2). Dobes had 30 saves.

“It’s tough. We needed this win ...,” Slafkovsky said. “We were right there and just lost it in the end. I don’t even know what to say.”

Montour made it 1-0 at 4:54 of the first period. Dobes tried to rim the puck around the glass from behind the net, but Eberle jumped and cut off the clearing attempt. He then fed Montour at the top of the right circle, who snapped it past Dobes’ blocker.

“It’s just shooting the puck, really,” Montour said of scoring five goals in two games against the Canadiens this season. “Guys are finding me in the right areas, and [we have good] netfront. It’s nice to see a couple go through.”

Tolvanen pushed it to 2-0 with a wrist shot over Dobes’ right pad at 4:47 of the second period after Eberle won a race to a loose puck on the half wall and tipped it out to Tolvanen in the right circle.

Laine, who missed Montreal’s previous two games with the flu, cut the lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 7:11 of the second, one-timing Nick Suzuki's pass over Daccord’s right shoulder from the left circle.

“I knew I was going to play since yesterday, so no last-minute decision,” Laine said. “Without 'Dobey', I think we should have earned zero points with the game we played. It was a little better in the second, but I think the first and third was… if you play like that, you can’t win.”

Alex Newhook tied it 2-2 at 11:21 of the second, driving to the net and redirecting Laine’s cross-crease feed over Daccord’s right pad.

Slafkovsky gave Montreal a 3-2 lead at 14:04, stickhandling around defenseman Ryker Evans, faking a shot, and then lifting it from a sharp angle over Daccord’s right shoulder. Hutson had the second assist on the goal, giving him his 51st point on the season (four goals, 47 assists), which leads all rookies in scoring.

“No, [it doesn’t matter] at all,” Hutson said of breaking the 50-point milestone. “It’s cool, I guess.”

Slafkovsky scored again for his second of the game to make it 4-2 at 7:18 of the third, deflecting Jayden Struble’s wrist shot from the point out of the air and under Daccord. The goal was reviewed for a possible high stick but was upheld as a good goal.

“I was 100-percent sure that was the highest stick I ever had,” Slafkovsky said. “You never know with these high sticks… I was for sure thinking they wouldn’t even call it a goal, but luckily it went in.”

Nyman, playing in his first NHL game, got Seattle within 4-3 with a power-play goal from the slot at 10:53 of the third, one-timing Eberle’s feed from below the goal line over Dobes’ glove.

“It’s very special,” Nyman said. “I don’t know what I [should] say. It’s a very special night.”

NOTES: With his game-winner four seconds into overtime, Montour matched the NHL record for the fastest goal to start any period, previously accomplished by Montreal's Claude Provost (Nov. 9, 1957), Chicago's Denis Savard (Jan. 12, 1986) and Toronto's James van Riemsdyk (March 28, 2014). ... Hutson became the seventh rookie in Canadiens history to post 50 points in a season and second since 1986-87, following Michael Ryder (51 points; 19 goals, 32 assists in 2003-04). … Montour scored his 15th goal with the Kraken to set a new franchise mark for most in a single season by a defenseman, previously held by Vince Dunn (14 in 2022-23).