Tomas Plekanec scored his second goal of the game in overtime, meaning Washington fell three games short of matching the longest ever NHL streak, set by Pittsburgh in 1992-93.
Washington trailed 5-2 in the third period but when Brooks Laich scored his third goal of the game with only 18 seconds left, the game was sent to overtime.
Scott Gomez, Glen Metropolit, Maxim Lapierre and Tom Pyatt added goals for the Canadiens. Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green also scored for Washington.
In Columbus, Ohio, San Jose's run of nine successive road wins was stopped by Columbus.
Goalie Steve Mason made 40 saves, raising his franchise record for shutouts to 14. He also led the NHL for shutouts by a rookie last season.
Rick Nash scored his 26th goal, Jake Voracek ended a long scoring drought, and Antoine Vermette added an empty-netter for the hosts.
In St. Paul Minnesota, Phoenix beat Minnesota to complete a four-game season sweep.
Martin Hanzal had a goal and an assist, and Radim Vrbata and Matthew Lombardi also scored for the Coyotes, who have won eight of their past nine games.
The Wild got goals from Guillaume Latendresse and Martin Havlat.
In Newark, New Jersey, Philadelphia overcame a 2-0 deficit for the second straight game and beat New Jersey.
Simon Gagne scored at 3:27 of overtime to complete the comeback, after Jeff Carter and Aaron Asham had scored.
The Devils goals came via Travis Zajac and Rob Niedermayer.
: In Denver, Colorado overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period to edge Atlanta, with Kyle Cumiskey scoring the winner just 9 seconds into overtime.
Chris Stewart had a goal and an assist and Chris Durno also netted for the Avalanche.
Nik Antropov, Niclas Bergfors and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist for the Thrashers.
In Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin took advantage of a couple of favorable bounces to score a goal and help Pittsburgh down New York.
With Kunitz scoring his first two goals this year - both set up by Malkin - the Penguins won their seventh in a row at home against the Islanders.
New York lost its eighth in nine games.
In New York, Nashville won its first road game in six by defeating New York.
Colin Wilson scored the go-ahead goal on a second-period power play, while Jordin Tootoo also scored, and Dan Ellis made 37 saves for the Predators.
Vinny Prospal had a power-play goal for the Rangers.
In Anaheim, California, Anaheim set a franchise record with its 11th successive home victory, while condemning Edmonton to a club-record 11th straight road defeat.
Todd Marchant scored the go-ahead goal in the third period after Bobby Ryan had scored twice for the Ducks.
Ryan Potulny and Ethan Moreau scored short-handed goals for the Oilers.
