Edmonton Holds on for Victory

It was inevitable that Montreal was going to lose a game at the Molson Centre, but it was just as inevitable that Edmonton was going to collapse, even with a three-goal lead.

Jason Arnott scored three goals in the first period and then spent the rest of the game waiting for the Oilers to blow it.

They didn’t, adding goals from Miroslav Satan, Dean McAmmond and Todd Marchant and hanging on for a 6-5 victory at Montreal, where the Canadiens had won eight in a row at home, three of them at their new Molson Centre, where on Saturday night they were booed for the first time.

“That was the first time ever that I had butterflies toward the end of the third period,” Arnott said. “When you go up 4-1 in an away building and let it slip, you always want to kick yourself.”

Montreal held on to fifth place in the Eastern Conference, three points up on Boston, New Jersey and Tampa Bay. All four have 10 games left.

The Canadiens scored three goals in three minutes of the second period to tie the score, 4-4, but the Oilers refused to quit.

Arnott got the assist on McAmmond’s goal in the third period that gave Edmonton a 5-4 lead.

OTHER GAMES

Randy Burridge scored the tie-breaking goal 28 seconds after Dominik Hasek stopped Mario Lemieux’s penalty shot and Buffalo survived blowing a 4-1 lead to win at Pittsburgh, 7-5. . . . Dale Hawerchuk and Dan Quinn scored first-period goals and goaltender Ron Hextall turned in a shutout for Philadelphia, which was a 4-0 winner at Toronto. . . . Peter Bondra scored his 41st goal midway through the third period, lifting Washington to a 2-2 tie with Hartford at Landover, Md. . . . Brian Bradley’s goal with 11:13 to play broke a 2-2 tie and Tampa Bay defeated Florida, 4-2, at St. Petersburg. . . . Mark Messier and Alexei Kovalev scored third-period goals just over two minutes apart to rally the New York Rangers to a 5-4 victory at Boston, ending the Bruins unbeaten streak at eight games (7-0-1). . . . Steve Thomas scored 3:38 into overtime for New Jersey, which stopped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y. . . . Trevor Kidd turned back 26 shots for the shutout in Calgary’s 4-0 victory at Vancouver.