The Montreal Canadiens had a strong start against the Pittsburgh Penguins during Wednesday night’s game, concluding the first frame with a 3-1 lead.
The Canadiens slowed down after intermission, though, allowing the Penguins to claw their way back in the second and third. And although Montreal was gifted a pivotal overtime powerplay, they were unable to capitalize.
And so, for the sixth time this season, the Habs were off to a shootout.
Starting strong with a goal from Nick Suzuki, who scored the 10th shootout goal of his career, Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang fired right back with one of his own.
Nick Suzuki makes it look so easy man pic.twitter.com/WopngYxOmv
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) December 14, 2023
Tied at one a piece, Cole Caufield also capitalized on a chance. As did Sidney Crosby.
Adding to the suspense, Canadiens forward Jesse Ylonen hit the post in Round 3. Then, with the opportunity to put it away, Penguins winger Jake Guentzel did the same.
At that point, we were officially in extra innings. And boy, were they ever extra.
While the next seven shooters went scoreless, Montreal’s Sean Monahan managed to find the back of the net — only for Lars Eller to do the same.
Tied again, nine more attempts were stopped by goalies Samuel Montembeault and Alex Nedeljkovic.
Shootout recap:
Suzuki 🚨
Letang 🚨
Caufield 🚨
Crosby 🚨
Ylönen ❌
Guentzel ❌
Slafkovsky ❌
Malkin ❌
Armia ❌
Smith ❌
Dvorak ❌
Karlsson ❌
Monahan 🚨
Eller 🚨
Matheson ❌
Carter ❌
Pezzetta ❌
Puustinen ❌
Evans ❌
Zohorna ❌
Gallagher ❌
Hinostroza ❌
Anderson ❌
Harkins 🚨— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 14, 2023
Ultimately, Pittsburgh forward Jansen Harkins put an end to the madness, leaving Bell Centre fans with a sense of disappointment, but also relief that the emotional roller coaster was over.
JANSEN HARKINS, SHOOTOUT HERO! pic.twitter.com/oM5LtHNRgJ
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 14, 2023
While it wasn’t the longest in NHL history — an honour that belongs to the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers, who went for 20 rounds back in 2014 — Montreal and Pittsburgh each set franchise records with their 12-round whirlwind.
The NHL has since uploaded the entire thing, which comes out to 12 minutes even with cuts.
With six on the season, the Canadiens have now appeared in more shootouts than any team this year. They also find themselves in last place for regulation wins.
They’ll get another chance to close one out in three periods when they take on the New York Islanders this Saturday.
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