The Canadiens did something Wednesday night in Columbus that they hadn’t done all season.
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They won a game after giving up the first goal, beating the Blue Jackets 4-3 in overtime on a goal by Nick Suzuki.
Mathieu Olivier opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets at 9:08 of the first period. It marked the 13th time this season the Canadiens had allowed the first goal and they were 0-9-3 the first 12 times. The Canadiens were the only team in the NHL that hadn’t won a game this season after giving up the first goal.
This was also the first OT win for the Canadiens this season after losing the first three times and they improved their record to 8-11-3.
Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield and Emil Heineman scored for the Canadiens in regulation time. Heineman’s fifth goal of the season gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead at 8:24 of the third period before Zach Werenski tied it up for the Blue Jackets at 12:22. Werenski’s goal completed a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a fight) after he dropped the gloves with Brendan Gallagher late in the second period.
Slafkovsky’s goal was his second of the season and his first in 15 games, dating back to Oct. 14. Slafkovsky also assisted on Caufield’s 13th goal of the season.
Caufield switched from No. 22 to No. 13 this season in honour of Johnny Gaudreau after the Blue Jackets star and his brother, Matthew, were killed on Aug. 29 while riding their bikes. They were hit by an alleged drunk driver near their home town in New Jersey the night before their sister was scheduled to get married.
Caufield’s 13th goal and his first in six games came with a No. 13 banner in honour of Gaudreau hanging from the rafters of Nationwide Arena.
“I can’t lie to you … I was for sure thinking about that going into this game,” Caufield told Marc Denis of RDS after the game. “You can’t write a story like that. It’s pretty crazy how the world works. Honestly, just lost for words. It feels pretty special to see his number in the rafters here. Just the type of person he was. You can’t write a script like that. I know he’s looking down on us and everybody. That’s all for him.”
The 23-year-old Caufield, who is 5-foot-8, grew up in Wisconsin admiring the 5-foot-9 Gaudreau, who was eight years older. They were teammates in May with Team USA at the IIHF world championship in Czechia.
Last season, when Caufield scored a career-high 28 goals, he didn’t get his 13th goal until the 43rd game on Jan. 15.
The Canadiens were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club Tuesday night at the Bell Centre in which they only had 13 shots on goal. They had 23 shots against the Blue Jackets and Canadiens goalie Cayden Primeau stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced.
“Just a big team win,” Primeau told reporters in Columbus after the game.
Suzuki called it a solid game overall by the Canadiens.
“Nothing too special,” the captain told reporters in Columbus. “Just working hard, keeping things simple and we got a good result out of that. Especially on a back-to-back, we really need to play like that and I was proud of the guys for doing that.
“I thought (head coach Martin St. Louis) was rolling all four lines,” Suzuki added. “It’s really nice on a back-to-back when you can do that and don’t have to shorten the bench. Guys played a lot of good games and it’s getting momentum for us.”
Slafkovsky was on the fourth line against Utah, but St. Louis juggled his lines against Columbus and moved him up to the second line with Christian Dvorak and Gallagher.
“When changes like this happen, you just hope that everything will click and luckily it clicked and we got the win and that’s important,” Slafkovsky told reporters in Columbus.
“I was moving a little better and doing good decisions,” Slafkovsky added. “There’s always something I could do better, but I think overall it was not bad.”
Gallagher isn’t known for fighting and the 5-foot-9, 185-pounder was giving up five inches and 26 pounds to Werenski when they dropped the gloves after some stick work between them. They were both penalized for slashing and fighting.
“There’s a reason for it,” Gallagher told reporters in Columbus with a grin about him not fighting often. “The game happens. Sometimes it happens. That’s why it’s allowed in the sport. You settle it and you move on. Obviously, not something either of us do a whole bunch of, but it’s part of the game.”
The Canadiens headed to New York after the game and will be back in action Saturday against the Rangers (1 p.m., TSN2, RDS) before wrapping up this three-game road trip Sunday in Boston against the Bruins (3 p.m., SN, RDS).
“You’re just driving for consistency,” Gallagher said. “We drop the puck next game, we got to try and continue to put these points together and climb back up. Enjoy it for a little bit, but you move on pretty quick.”