MONTREAL — Kirby Dach earned this one.

Sure, it was a goal in garbage time, scored 1:23 after Nick Suzuki drove a spike through the Utah Mammoth’s casket and made it 5-2 Montreal Canadiens in the 58th minute of play.

But Dach deserved this one. He deserved it for stripping Olli Maata of the puck and steaming his way through the 140 feet to Karel Vejmelka’s net before finishing a beautiful move. He deserved it for the same dogged effort he put in through his 17 shifts before that. And he definitely deserved it for the way he played 10 of his 11 games prior to this one against Utah — with attention to detail, with full effort, and with a mindset that is helping him finally fulfill the promise he held as a former third-overall draft pick.

“I’m not really focused on end results or goals or

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