MONTREAL — Andrei Kostitsyn scored on Montreal's fifth shootout attempt and Jaroslav Halak turned aside five shots in the tiebreaker to help the Canadiens extend their winning streak to four games with a 5-4 victory over Edmonton on Thursday night.
Halak, who stopped 21 shots in regulation and overtime, and Edmonton's Devan Dubnyk each turned aside the first four shooters they faced before Kostitsyn deked and shot past Dubnyk on the Canadiens' fifth attempt.
Sam Gagner, whose power-play goal 3:43 in gave Edmonton its only lead at 2-1, lost control of the puck on the Oilers' final attempt.
Tomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta, Travis Moen and Sergei Kostitsyn scored for Montreal, which led three times during the game.
Robert Nilsson, Andrew Cogliano and Shawn Horcoff also scored for Edmonton, which lost its second in a row.
The Oilers are last overall in the NHL with a 21-39-6 record and 49 points.
Horcoff, who tied it at 4 with his 11th goal midway through the third, drove in on a short-handed breakaway late in overtime but was stopped by Halak after Andrew Cogliano was called for holding 3:28 into overtime. The final 45.6 seconds were played 3-on-3 when Plekanec was sent off for slashing Horcoff on the breakaway.
The Canadiens failed to take advantage of a 4-on-3 power-play for the first 1:43 of overtime after Edmonton was called for too many men with 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
Horcoff drove a slap shot past Halak from just inside the blue line 9:19 into the third as Edmonton drew even for the second time in the period and third time in the game.
Sergei Kostitsyn had given Montreal its third lead 1:14 earlier when he came out of the right corner to beat Dubnyk for an unassisted goal to make it 4-3.
Sergei Kostitsyn assisted on Moen's goal 15:25 into the second which put the Canadiens up 3-2.
Plekanec gave Montreal an early 1-0 lead with his 20th goal 1:20 in. Gionta added his 21st to tie the game at two at 9:45 of the first as the two teams combined to score four goals before the midpoint of the opening period.
Nilsson and Gagner scored 1:21 apart early in the first as Edmonton came back to take a 2-1 lead 3:43 in. The Oilers tied it at 3 when Cogliano scored 32 seconds into the third.
Halak stopped Gilbert Brule on a partial breakaway moments after the Canadiens were unable to take advantage of a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage early in the third.
Notes
The Oilers beat Montreal 3-2 in Edmonton on Oct. 10. … Oilers defenseman Ryan Whitney left midway through the third period with a leg injury. He did not return. … Canadiens center Maxim Lapierre sat out the final game of his four-game suspension for his hit from behind on San Jose's Scott Nichol. Lapierre is eligible to return Saturday night against Boston.