Provided with extra motivation, Oilers edge Habs

MONTREAL -- The Edmonton Oilers were determined to play like a winning team after hearing what Montreal Canadiens forward Lars Eller said about them.

Jeff Petry and Ryan Jones scored 1:58 apart midway through third period to help Edmonton come from behind for a satisfying 4-3 win over Montreal on Tuesday night.

The Canadiens won 4-1 in Edmonton on Oct. 10. Earlier Tuesday, Eller was asked what kind of game he expected against the Oilers.

"It's hard to say," he said. "With this team it can be anything. They play a little bit like a junior team, I think, sometimes. They take a lot of risks, a lot of chances, and they're a little all over the place. There's not a lot of structure always in their game so it could really be anything, you don't know."

Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins couldn't believe his good fortune when word of Eller's comments got back to him and his team.

"Loved it. They might as well have sent me over a fruit basket and a bottle of wine," Eakins said. "I was like, 'Man, that is just perfect.' That is a really great present that Mr. Eller laid on us today."

Petry scored off Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' pass on a 2-on-1 at 7:59 of the third to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead. Jones made it 4-2 with his first goal at 9:57.

Ales Hemsky and Ladislav Smid scored 2:47 apart in the second to draw the Oilers even at 2 after Montreal had taken a 2-0 advantage in the first.

Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves and Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Mark Arcobello each had two assists.

"That's definitely bulletin board material and everybody was aware of it today, and we ended up on the right side of the scoreboard," Dubnyk said about Eller's comments. "It's interesting for a young guy to start critiquing other teams and other players and the way they play, but it's fine by us. We were on the right side tonight so we'll just keep building our game."

Edmonton, which ended a six-game road trip, won its second in a row following a five-game skid.

Canadiens coach Michel Therrien acknowledged that Eller's remarks were costly.

"He's a young player," Therrien said. "I think he'll learn from that. They're inappropriate comments."

Both teams scored in pairs as Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher tallied for Montreal 1:27 apart late in the first period for Montreal.

Carey Price stopped 28 shots for the Canadiens, who dropped their second straight at home following a four-game winning streak.

Hemsky drew Edmonton to within a goal with his third goal 12:50 into the second, making it 2-1. Smid put away a rebound of Nugent-Hopkins' shot to tie it with his first goal of the season at 15:37.

"There were a lot of momentum shifts and I felt like once we got the two in the second period we started battling even harder," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We wanted it and we came out with a big win."

Montreal scored six seconds into its second power-play opportunity of the first period. Andrei Markov passed from the left point to Plekanec, who beat Dubnyk with a shot from the right side at 16:36 for his third goal in four games.

Gallagher made it 2-0 with an unassisted effort at 18:03. Canadiens right winger Ryan White checked Edmonton's Ryan Jones along the boards and Gallagher jumped up from the neutral zone to intercept the Oilers left winger's pass just inside the blue line before driving in on Dubnyk to score his fifth.

"They definitely pushed back and adjusted but it's a letdown on us," said Canadiens captain Brian Gionta, who scored with 2.6 seconds left in the third to close out the scoring. "We can't expect to play one period and come out with a win. We had a great start. We did what we wanted to do, we stuck to our game plan for that first period and then we didn't adjust after that and we got back on our heels."

NOTES: The Oilers were without LW Taylor Hall, who suffered a left knee injury in Saturday's 3-1 win in Ottawa, and LW Ryan Smyth, who has an unspecified injury. Hall, who was the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft, will be out for four weeks. He had three goals and five assists in nine games. ... LW Ben Eager and RW Tyler Pitlick were inserted into Edmonton's lineup after both were recalled from AHL Oklahoma City. Pitlick made his NHL debut. ... Canadiens C Daniel Briere is out indefinitely with a concussion. Briere was injured in a collision with Nashville's Eric Nystrom on Saturday. ... LW Brandon Prust was also injured in the 2-1 loss to the Predators. He will miss four weeks with a right shoulder injury. ... Montreal recalled D Nathan Beaulieu from AHL Hamilton along with RW Patrick Holland, who made his NHL debut. ... Former Canadiens D Roman Hamrlik was given a standing ovation when he was shown on the video scoreboard during the second period. Hamrlik, who was chosen first overall by Tampa Bay in the 1992 draft, announced his retirement Monday.