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This Monday night tilt was far from being a masterpiece, in fact the first period could easily be described as boring with the Jets having the edge 6-5 in shots and very little else happening. Thankfully, the pace picked up in the second frame and Josh Anderson, with his renewed confidence, took care of the business. The power forward crashed the net, opening the score with a deflection and getting and assist from in close on Christian Dvorak’s power play tally. The game slowed down to a halt with that goal as the officials needed several minutes to determine whether it was a good goal. In the end, the call on the ice stood as replays weren’t conclusive.
Before the end of the second though, Gabe Vilardi scored to bring the Jets back in the game and set the tome for the final frame. Winnipeg completely dominated those 20 minutes, shooting 15 times on Jake Allen’s net while Connor Hellebuyck only had to turn five shots aside. The game-tying goal came from Cole Perfetti, it was the young center’s 10th goal of the season, and he now has 20 points in 30 games, 10 points short of his career high. The tied lasted until the end of the third, even though Nikolaj Ehlers was assessed a two-minute penalty for tripping Mike Matheson with 27 seconds to go.
The power play carried over to the overtime period and after both Adam Lowry and Matheson were given penalties, the Barron brothers had to step in on their teams’ special units in overtime. After a little over a minute of play in the extra frame, puck moving defenseman Justin Barron found the back of the net as his brother attempted to block his shot, game, set and match Montreal. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it still counts, and no one will be more pleased with it than Jake Allen who finally got a win after seven consecutive defeats. His last taste of victory came all the way back in October against those same Jets.
On Christian Dvorak’s goal, Brendan Gallagher for the 200th assist of his career, which is his 407th point just one short of Réjean Houle’s career total. His next point will make him tie firmer GM Peanuts in points and he should take him over soon to become the 36th best point scorer in team history.
If teams are looking to make trades, they’ve got until 11:59 PM today to do so, after that the Christmas roster freeze will kick in. Jake Allen’s name is still making the rounds out there with Edmonton, Los Angeles and Carolina all having goalie worries, but if Kent Hughes doesn’t want to retain any salary, a deal appears unlikely, especially so close to Christmas. It would be hard to blame the GM though since the Habs only have one more salary retention spot and it could be wise to save it for the trade deadline.
Meanwhile, in Laval, the Rocket is struggling and the team announced they had signed goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo to a professional tryout. Hopefully, the veteran netminder can bring some stability in net and give Jean-François Houle’s men some breathing room.
The Canadiens will now head to Minnesota to take on the Wild in the first game of a back-to-back on Thursday night before making a final stop before Christmas in Chicago to face Connor Bedard and co.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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