The Montreal Canadiens played one their most exciting games of the season while many of their fans were sleeping.

Alas, Tuesday night’s track meet at SAP Center did not go Montreal’s way, as they erased a three-goal deficit only to lose 7-5 to the San Jose Sharks.

Alex Newhook pulled the Habs to within one and then tied the game 5-5 in the third period. Mike Matheson had three assists.

Despite the score, the top line was largely kept off the scoresheet. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach only produced one assist and was a combined -8. Things went a little better for the second line: Oliver Kapanen scored his 19th and Ivan Demidov had a power play goal.

Jakub Dobes entered the game 9-0-2 in his last 11, but he allowed six goals on 27 shots for a .778 save percentage.

Macklin Celebrini led the way for the Sharks with his 30th goal of the season and three assists.

Here’s how it went. Kapanen opened scoring, tying him for second among rookie goal scorers with 19.

Sharks tied it up at 15:32 of the first. Collin Graf completed an impressive passing display for his 16th.

In the second period, Phillip Danault deflected a Matheson point shot past Yaroslav Askarov.

It was another short-lived Habs lead. Michael Misa made it 2-2 just past the midway point of the second period.

The Sharks added to their lead just before the end of the second period with two goals, one by Celebrini and the other by Alexander Wennberg, within 25 seconds. 4-2 Sharks after 40 minutes.

In the third period, the Sharks extended their lead to three goals with a power play goal from Will Smith.

The Habs didn’t break. They responded with two goals in 18 seconds from Demidov and Newhook (his first of the night), to pull to within one. Demidov’s came on the power play, and was just his third in 22 contests.

At 10:56 of the third period, Newhook scored his second of the night, this time on the power play, to even things with the Sharks at 5-5. It was a next-shot-wins kind of period.

But the Canadiens committed the cardinal sin of getting a too-many-men penalty with time winding down, and with 3:26 left in regulation, Kiefer Sherwood put San Jose back in the driver’s seat with a 6-5 lead. Adam Gaudette would add the empty netter for a 7-5 final.

The Montreal Canadiens aren’t alone in rebuilding their franchise as a high-octane offensive powerhouse. The San Jose Sharks have spent a few years in the doldrums, but with Celebrini knocking at the door for the Hart Trophy and a few other top prospects panning out, such as Smith and Misa, Tuesday night’s game felt like a preview of a future Stanley Cup final.

A lot can go wrong between now and a few years from now, and both teams were guilty of hanging their goalies out to dry with reckless plays. Kirby Dach tried to recover with some physical play late, but his giveaway gave the Sharks their first two-goal lead of the night. Slafkovsky, since the Olympic break, hasn’t looked quite right, and last night had the occasional no-look pass to nowhere from the Slovak star.

Here’s how Hockey Stat Cards’ ranked the players after last night’s game.

Could it be time to shuffle the top-two forward lines after relative stability this season? Dach came into the game with six points in six games, but Newhook has stormed out of the gate since returning from injury. Alexandre Texier was a healthy scratch and could get another shot as well. Could a forward be what general manager Kent Hughes will be looking for ahead of Friday’s trade deadline, or will he look to shore up a defence that gave up seven goals to the Sharks?

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