MONTREAL -- Brendan Gallagher, Jordie Benn and Max Pacioretty scored as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Tuesday.

Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves in improving to 5-0-0 in five NHL starts for Montreal (7-8-1), which won its third straight game. Maxime Lagace stopped 25 shots for Vegas (9-4-1) in a matchup of rookie goaltenders.

It took nearly five minutes for the Golden Knights, who were playing their second game in as many nights, to get their first shot on Lindgren. The Canadiens' netminder was forced to drop to the ice to make a sprawling save, much to the delight of the Bell Centre crowd, who erupted into "Charlie! Charlie!" cheers.

At 8:24, after rushing up ice to avoid an icing call, center Tomas Plekanec fed the puck to Gallagher, who was waiting on the doorstep. Gallagher beat Lagace for his seventh goal of the season. Benn was later given an assist on the goal.

After the game, Gallagher had nothing but respect and high praise for the NHL's newest expansion team.

"We knew coming in they were probably the hardest working team in the NHL," he said. "You see what they've done early on in the year, and they just keep coming at you. They work, and everything they've got, they earned. They're a good hockey team."

After managing to sustain some offensive zone pressure, Victor Mete made an excellent play to keep the puck in the Vegas zone, passing the puck to Benn. The defenseman fired a low slap shot from the blue line to score his first of the season, putting the Habs up 2-0 at 10:55.

"We didn't start well tonight, for some reason," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant lamented after the game. "Usually we start pretty well but Montreal was really jumping. You've got to give them a lot of credit. They played a great first period."

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare cut Vegas' deficit in half when he snuck one past Lindgren from the hashmarks at 17:41, moments after a power-play opportunity had just expired. Derek Engelland picked up the assist.

Pacioretty gave Montreal a 3-1 lead 3:31 into the second when he scored his sixth goal of the season, tipping in a Jeff Petry shot from the circle. Andrew Shaw added another helper, bringing his season tally to five assists.

Just past the midway mark of the second, Lindgren was forced to drop down into the butterfly to make a save on Vegas forward William Carrier, who came in with speed on the Canadiens net. Lindgren made the stop, keeping it a two-goal game.

Weber took his second penalty of the game, a holding minor, with just over four minutes to play in the second, sending him to the sin bin for two minutes. Reilly Smith managed to beat Lindgren during the Vegas power play, but the shot rang hard off the right post and stayed out of the net.

Montreal's Jonathan Drouin did not come out onto the ice to start the third period. The Canadiens later announced that he would not return, citing an upper-body injury as the reason. There was no further update on Drouin's status after the game. Head coach Claude Julien would only say that the forward would be re-evaluated.

Gallant pulled Lagace with just over two minutes to play in the third. With 1:37 to go, and the extra attacker on the ice, Jonathan Marchessault sent a beautiful pass to Erika Haula, who closed the gap to 3-2.

"It was wild," Lindgren said after the game. "We knew coming in that Vegas is a blue-collar team. They don't give up, and you saw that tonight."

Lindgren, with a 1.39 goals-against average and .955 save percentage, talked about facing a barrage of attackers late in the game.

"They're just such a hard working team, and we knew they were going to come, and they definitely did," he said. "They threw everything at the net in the last few minutes there."

Lagace, Vegas' fourth-string goalie, has had to play in five straight games, after Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban and Oscar Dansk were all sidelined with injuries.

"I got to show what I can do. It didn't go our way all the time, but I learned a lot," Lagace said of the sudden pressure. "I'll take the experience and carry it with me throughout my whole career."

NOTES: Montreal G Carey Price missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Canadiens D Jeff Petry's assist Tuesday night puts him within five of 100 for his career. ... G Maxime Lagace is the fourth goaltender to wear a Golden Knights uniform this season. ... LW James Neal, who was held off the scoresheet Tuesday, leads Vegas with 12 points in 14 games. ... The Canadiens continue their homestand Thursday night when they play Minnesota. ... The Golden Knights return home to face Winnipeg on Friday.