Suzuki's 3 Points Fuel Habs OT Win

Nick Suzuki returned from an upper-body injury with a goal and two assists, and the Montreal Canadiens rallied for a 5-4 overtime win over the Utah Mammoth on Thursday at Bell Centre. Cole Caufield won it 30 seconds into overtime, faking a slap shot on a 2-on-1 before burying a wrist shot over Sebastian Cossa's right shoulder.

Adam Engstrom tied it with his first NHL goal at 14:54 of the third. Logan Cooley scored a hat trick for Utah, and Nick Schmaltz added a goal and two assists, but Montreal (10-3-3) found one more answer and has now won six of seven.

Suzuki Back, and Immediately Dangerous

Suzuki had missed the previous six games. He cut Utah's early 2-0 lead to 2-1 at 15:25 of the first, unmarked at the left post to finish a Juraj Slafkovsky cross-ice feed. Arber Xhekaj tied it 2-2 with a slap shot from the left point before the period ended. Kirby Dach scored his first of the season in the third after missing two games with illness.

Coming off a 5-4 overtime loss to Winnipeg in which Montreal blew a 4-0 lead with 2:39 left in the third, the response mattered as much as the result. Coach Martin St. Louis said he loved how the group answered that disappointment.

Cooley Hat Trick, Then the Rally

Cooley opened the scoring at 1:42, added a power-play breakaway at 9:24, and completed his fifth NHL hat trick with another power-play goal at 11:05 of the second. Schmaltz put Utah back ahead 4-3 at 7:14 of the third off a Cooley feed. Engstrom then tied it late, walking into the top of the slot and beating Cossa through traffic for his first NHL goal.

Caufield's OT winner made him the fastest player to 15 career overtime goals in NHL history (384 games), ahead of Connor McDavid. Jakub Dobes made 16 saves. Cossa stopped 30.

Deep Group Finds Another Gear

Suzuki called it a collective bounce-back with big goals from different guys. Xhekaj, Engstrom, and Dach all chipped in, and Slafkovsky controlled stretches of the game. Utah (10-6-1) is 2-1-1 over the first four of a six-game road trip and left Montreal with a point it probably felt it deserved until the final half-minute of OT.

Smacktok pick lean: Lean higher on Suzuki's points. A goal and two assists in his first game back from six missed is the usage spike that shows up when Montreal's top line is whole again.

Three points on the return, an OT winner from Caufield, and a Bell Centre night that flipped a bad memory into a statement. The Habs keep finding ways.