It was that Saturday night rarity, a game people will actually be talking about five or ten years from now, long after it’s faded from the highlight reels and a 24-hour news cycle that seems to be down to about 24 minutes.

Pittsburgh 7, Montreal 6. A touchdown, a convert and two field goals, scored against a goaltender who is supposed to be one of the best in the business and a backup who was one of the best not so long ago.

Then the Canadiens climbed on a plane, flew to Boston, licked their wounds — and stole two points from the biggest, baddest team on the planet, right in their building.

That’s what you call a weekend to remember. And even with that last-second Peter Budaj save on Tyler Seguin to preserve the 4-3 win over the Bruins, chances are what you will remember most is Brendan Gallagher.

Gallagher is more fun than the 1960s. Looks like an angel, plays like the devil. Every time there was a scrum in front of the Boston net, it seemed, there was No. 11 disappearing beneath a sea of bodies in black and yellow, creating mayhem.

The scoreline says he only had a couple of assists on the night, but Gallagher was as much a part of this win as David Desharnais, who had two goals. He was also a plus-3 and if my numbers are right, that makes him a plus-12 on the season.

But if you’re thinking Calder Trophy, the numbers don’t begin to tell the story with Gallagher. He’s everywhere. He’s a nuisance. He streaks in on goal in a crouch so low he’s head-to-head with a goalie on his knees. He makes things happen.

Give full marks for the “W” on this night to Alex Emelin, who took on the fearsome Zdeno Chara after Chara took exception to his hit on Seguin, and not only lived to tell the tale but also took Chara off the ice for 17 minutes. Ditto to Brandon Prust, who fought Milan Lucic.

And don’t forget Budaj, who was thrown into a very tough spot after head coach Michel Therrien decided to go with him instead of Carey Price after Price was lit up by the Penguins.

It was a gutsy move on Therrien’s part and it paid off. A loss would have made it tough for the Canadiens to contend for the division (and, most probably, the conference) against a Bruins team that holds three games in hand.

But the Canadiens are back on top, at least for now. They took three points from two games you’ll want to remember for a good long while. And this Gallagher kid, well — you kind of have to see it to believe it.

The win in Boston will go a long way to helping people forget that Price, despite all the success this season, is still missing a couple of lines on his résumé. He has been shelled in two big Saturday night games at home, when the Canadiens needed him to be at his best.

Price still seems to lack the junkyard dog factor that made Patrick Roy great and Tim Thomas very good despite inferior talent.

Someone with a sharper eye for goaltenders than I said that on his bad nights, he carries his catching glove a few inches too low. He gets a little too casual, he gets beat, he broods on it and he gets lit up like Vegas at night.

It’s all stuff that can be fixed. The biggest missing line on the Price résumé, of course, is the serious playoff run. A good playoff run and Price will be in the conversation for Sochi — but right now, Corey Crawford of the remarkable Blackhawks has to be the starter.

That should be all the incentive Price needs. That, and the fact that for one night in Boston, he had the best seat in the house to watch Gallagher in action.

Stranger than fiction: The bizarre sequence of events that led to restricted free-agent Ryan O’Reilly resigning with the Colorado Avalanche last week was a reminder, if any were needed, that NHL owners all have to sign the Hypocritic Oath before they can own a franchise.

Rewind to that long and bitter lockout. Murray Edwards, owner of the Flames and exploiter of the high-pollution oilsands, was one of the lockout hawks who most vocally did not want Donald Fehr at the table.

The CBA signed, Edwards turned right around and tried to shaft one of his fellow owners by signing O’Reilly to a ridiculous offer sheet. To add a little comedy to the occasion, bungling GM Jay Feaster failed to note O’Reilly had played two games in Russia after the lockout ended, which meant the Flames would have had to put him on waivers, thereby losing a first-round pick, a third-round pick — and O’Reilly.

Ah, those French names: Couldn’t believe my ears the other night when HNIC’s David Amber called the Canadiens coach “Michel Tarry-ON.” This is a veteran NHL coach, not some obscure one-game call-up from the AHL. Perhaps Amber should brush up a little on the names of NHL coaches.

How much is enough? Saturday night, Don Cherry blamed Sidney Crosby for causing his own concussions and said if the Penguins star played the way Cherry told him to, he would never have gotten hurt. Can you spell “delusional?”

Heroes: Brendan Gallagher, Brandon Prust, Lars Eller, Brian Gionta, Peter Budaj, Alex Emelin, Saku Koivu, Sheldon Souray, Mike Ribeiro, Ryan Kelly, Davy Arnaud, Michael Schallibaum, Troy Perkins, Patrice Bernier, Corey Crawford, the Chicago Blackhawks, Sidney Crosby &&&& last but not least, Michel Therrien and Marc Bergevin.

Zeros: Murray Edwards, Craig Leipold, Jeremy Jacobs, Harry Zolnierczyk, Pierre Gauthier, David Amber, Don Cherry, Patrick Kaleta, Lance Armstrong, Gary Bettman, &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria and David Samson for the things they’re doing to the baseball fans of South Florida.

jacktodd46@yahoo.com

Twitter: @jacktodd46