Detroit — The Red Wings finally cured the jinx that has been the Montreal Canadiens.
Dylan Larkin scored his second goal of the night, and sixth of the season, at 1 minute 41 seconds of overtime on Saturday to send the Wings to 3-2 victory over Montreal.
It was the Wings’ first win in three games against Montreal (4-10-2) this season.
Larkin and Lucas Raymond went on a 2-on-1 rush and Raymond’s shot was stopped by goaltender Sam Montembeault. The puck bounced to Larkin near the goal line, who — similarly to his first goal — launched a shot that bounced off Montembeault and into the net.
BOX SCORE: Red Wings 3, Canadiens 2, OT
Montreal’s Chris Wideman tied it 2-2 at 2:33 of the third period. Artturi Lehkonen slammed into the boards, but regained control of the puck seconds later, and from his knees backhanded a pass across the slot to Wideman, who beat goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (35 saves) from near the dot.
Larkin and Pius Suter greeted Montembeault with goals 45 seconds apart early in the second period to give the Wings (8-6-2) a 2-1 lead.
Montembeault replaced goaltender Jake Allen after Allen was shaken up on a collision with Larkin. Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry (Orchard Lake St. Mary/Michigan State) appeared to push Larkin, who was driving to the net, into Allen.
Larkin also seemed to be impacted briefly, but got up and skated to the bench.
Larkin then tied the score 1-1 on a goal from near the corner, along the goal line, the puck flying past Montembeault for Larkin’s fifth goal.
With Montembeault trying to shake that quirky goal away, the Wings kept pressing and Robby Fabbri found Suter in the slot. Suter snapped his fourth goal past the shellshocked Montembeault, giving the Wings a 2-1 lead at 3:21.
Ryan Poehling opened the scoring with his first goal, sneaking a shot past Nedeljkovic, with a shot from the right dot.
The Wings lost forward Mitchell Stephens in the second period.
Stephens crashed into the boards skates first and had difficulty putting any weight on his left foot before returning to the bench. Stephens was on the bench briefly, but headed into the locker room.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan