The Vegas Golden Knights (25-14-13) suffered their 13th loss in extra time this season in a 3-2 overtime decision against the Montreal Canadiens (29-17-7) Tuesday night at Bell Centre.

Noah Hanifin skated in his 800th career NHL game, and Jeremy Lauzon wore an A on his sweater for the first time with the Golden Knights. Vegas was looking to bounce back from a 7-1 loss to the Senators over the weekend.

The Golden Knights got off to a better start and were the first team on the board when Pavel Dorofeyev scored his team-high 23rd goal of the season at 8:38 of the opening frame.

Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson took away the pass on a clear-cut 2-on-1 for Dorofeyev and Braeden Bowman, and Dorofeyev made no mistake, picking the corner to give Vegas the early lead.

Akira Schmid had a very strong period, turning aside all eight shots he faced, including a particularly impressive stop when he robbed Cole Caufield.

But Caufield managed to break through on an early power play in the second period despite breaking his stick on the play, or so it seemed. The Golden Knights issued a successful challenge for offside to take the equalizer off the board.

However, Phillip Danault officially reset the score at 4:24 with his second of the year on a deflection.

Habs netminder Jakub Dobes came up with a few big stops when Dorofeyev had several cracks at it, keeping the score even at 1-1.

Schmid pulled off another monster save on Caufield on a Montreal 2-on-1, but the puck quickly made its way back to Caufield down low. The American winger tucked it into the post on the backhand at 8:55 for his 30th of the year, extending his goal streak to six games and giving the Canadiens the 2-1 lead after two.

The Golden Knights started the third period with carry-over time on the power play but were unable to capitalize. Vegas recorded eight of the first nine shots in the period, but Dobes was excellent, preventing the Golden Knights from cashing in on their many chances.

But the Golden Knights continued to push.

Eventually, they got rewarded when Dorofeyev scored his second of the night with just 3:08 remaining. Bowman won a race and got the puck out to Ben Hutton, who threw it on net. Dorofeyev got a piece of it for the late equalizer.

Rasmus Andersson was called for tripping with 33 seconds left in the third period, though Vegas managed to hold off the Habs in regulation for a well-deserved point.

The Golden Knights and Canadiens headed to overtime, with the Canadiens on a 4-on-3 power play for the first 1:27. Schmid made a sensational diving save to rob Juraj Slafkovsky on the rebound in front, keeping Vegas alive in extra time.

But the Golden Knights later got caught up the ice, and Jake Evans scored on an odd-man rush to give the Canadiens the extra point and the 3-2 win at 3:58 of the extra frame. Tomas Hertl was out of gas and unable to get a stick on Evans, who deked around Schmid for the game-winner.

The Golden Knights came up short in the end but delivered a much better effort in response to arguably their worst performance of the year over the weekend. Unlike the 7-1 loss in Ottawa, Vegas delivered a convincing effort in the third period.

“We were down going into the third, and we’ve done a good job this year getting ourselves back into the game,” Bruce Cassidy said. “We’re never out of it, so that’s a positive.”

Vegas outshot Montreal 13-3 in a dominant final 20 minutes to force overtime. It was an important goal, giving the Golden Knights a much-deserved and a much-needed point.

“I thought it was a good game,” Cassidy said. “We played with pace. Offensively, I thought we generated some good looks. Both goaltenders had good nights, so there was a lot to like. The second period, the game got away from us a bit, and that’s been a problem for us. … But we kept it within a goal, so it’s there for us, and we end up getting that tying goal, so those are the positives.”

Dorofeyev had a great night, scoring both goals and recording a game-high eight shots on goal.

But Cassidy said the rest of the team didn’t shoot enough, particularly on odd-man rushes.

“Balancing passing and shooting has been a challenge for us for four years,” he said.

Despite not getting the win, Schmid was a difference-maker for Vegas. He finished the game with 23 saves on 26 shots for an .885 save percentage but came up with several massive stops, including a game-saving stop in overtime to give Vegas a chance to earn the second point.

But the Golden Knights never got settled.

The power play didn’t come through for the Golden Knights, who went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage in Montreal. The Golden Knights had three straight power plays late in the second and early in the third but couldn’t convert. They had five shots on the power play in the third period, but Dobes stood tall.

All in all, it was a rough road trip for the Golden Knights, who went 1-2-1 in the four-game swing. Vegas scored just one power-play goal in those four games.

“Not our best,” Hutton said about the road trip. “Obviously a tough one in Ottawa. Obviously, we’re happy with the way Toronto went, but we pride ourselves on every night getting two points, and we didn’t on the road trip. But we’ll look at some things and we’ll get back to work.”

The Golden Knights return home to face Dallas on Thursday before a weekend back-to-back at home against Seattle on Saturday and on the road in Anaheim on Sunday. Vegas will finish up the pre-Olympic schedule with a home back-to-back against Vancouver and Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday.

Photo via Golden Knights