Two things happened on Sunday night that hadn’t happened in the series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens. In a series that was tied for 71% of the time through the first three games, and within a goal the other 29%, a team finally built a multi-goal lead as the Canadiens were up 2-0 in the second period. Second, it ended in regulation as Brandon Hagel’s second goal of the third period gave the Lightning the lead that they would hold on to despite a late 6-on-4 power play for Montreal.
Coach Jon Cooper made a couple of line-up changes as the Lightning were coming off what he called their worst game of the series in Game 3. Oliver Bjorkstrand made his Lightning playoff debut as he replaced Scott Sabourin. On defense, Max Crozier was in for Declan Carlile.
The first period was scoreless, yet had some of the more wide-open hockey of the series as both teams managed to find some open ice. Tampa Bay’s forecheck gave the home team some trouble early on and led to some chances for the Lightning. It also allowed them to generate some more chances including some crease chaos that had Jakub Dobes swimming around in the blue paint.
Montreal had some chances on the power play, including a brief 5-on-3, but Andrei Vasilevskiy was on task as he made several saves early in the game, his best on Juraj Slafkovsky as the talented winger had a clean look at the net off of a rebound. Vasilevskiy was able to make it over and cover.
The second period was a little tighter, but the Lightning’s defense was suffocating Montreal’s offense, especially at 5v5 where the Habes could only generate six shot attempts. It’s the playoffs, though, and not every goal is going to be a work of art. A pad save by Dobes went straight to Alexandre Texier who tapped it to Kaiden Guhle. The defenseman hit Zachary Bolduc in stride and the restricted free agent was one-on-one with Darren Raddysh. Bolduc shoveled a shot on net that Vasilevskiy tried to chip away, but it hit Bolduc in the chest and went into the net.
Tampa Bay went on the power play almost right after the goal and Jake Guentzel’s shot beat Dobes, but hit the crossbar. They were just an inch or two from tying it. Instead, it would be Montreal finding pay dirt with the extra skater a few minutes later.
With Guentzel in the box for giving Dobes an extra love-tap following a save, the Habs won a face-off and Nick Suzuki did a good job of controlling the puck along the boards. He waited for Cole Caufield to jump in front of the net and hit him with a perfect pass that Caufield tapped in for his first goal of the series.
A quietly important moment of the game happened with six minutes to go in the period. After Corey Perry was cut with an inadvertent stick, the first group scrum ended up with matching roughing minors for a few players, but the crowd was energized. Darren Raddysh then flipped a puck into the stands to give Montreal a power play.
Not only did they not score, after an early chance went wide, Montreal really didn’t have a look. That led to a possible turning point for the game. Slafkovsky had the puck in neutral zone, but had his head down. Max Crozier put his shoulder into his chest and leveled him.
Max Crozier with a huge hit on Juraj Slafkovsky😱😱
— Everything Hockey (@ehclothing.bsky.social) April 26, 2026 at 9:27 PM
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The Lightning had a brief power play, but Hagel took a penalty a few minutes later. With the teams skating four a piece, Guentzel had room to enter the zone. He worked a nice give-and-go with J.J. Moser and the return pass from the defender was right on Guentzel’s stick as he cut to the net. Dobes wasn’t able to make the save, and the Lightning were on the board.
He almost had the game-tying goal with seconds left on the clock as Point centered a pass that Crozier tried to chip in, it hit a few bodies, but a sprawling Dobes was able to knock it out of harm’s way.
Early in the third, the Lightning finally struck on their fifth opportunity. Much like the Caufield goal, Hagel was able to get position in front of the net and tapped home a centering pass from Nikita Kucherov. Just like that, the game was level again and the Canadiens were on their heels a bit.
They recovered and the Suzuki line had a sustained shift in the Lightning zone. Their best chances were fired wide of the net, and the Lightning survived. Montreal wasn’t able to build on the momentum, partly because of a really strong possession shift from the Nick Paul, Corey Perry, Zemgus Girgensons line that had a minute-long shift in the offensive zone.
Montreal was tested when they took back-to-back penalties that led to a 5-on-3 for the Lightning for just over a minute. The second penalty, a cross-check by Jake Evans on Kucherov, had Lightning fans holding their breath as the hit sent Kucherov into the boards awkwardly. After flexing his hip area, he came back on the ice for the two-skater advantage.
They had some chances, but the Lightning couldn’t score with either advantage, and the crowd roared their appreciation. Vasilevskiy, who finished with 16 saves, made a big one on Ivan Demidov from right in front. The crowd went from full roar to stunned silence just a minute later as Kucherov fired a pass off of Hagel’s chest and into the net. Was it a high-percentage play? Not really, Kucherov whipped it from just off the boards and it ricocheted into the net. Finally, a bounce went the Lightning’s way.
It was Katie bar the door for the final five minutes of the game as Montreal pushed for the equalizer. A slash from Kucherov (which looked more like a high-stick) gave the Canadiens a power play with just over two minutes to go. They pulled the goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage, but they mustered just one shot on goal with the Lightning getting credit for four blocked shots.
The series heads back to Tampa all tied at two.
The Goals
Zachary Bolduc [1] (Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Texier) 1-0 Canadiens
Cole Caufield [1] (Nick Suzuki, Lane Hutson) Power Play, 2-0 Canadiens
Jake Guentzel [1] (J.J. Moser, Darren Raddysh) 2-1 Canadiens
Brandon Hagel [5] (Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel) Power Play, 2-2
Brandon Hagel [6] (Nikita Kucherov, J.J. Moser) 3-2 Lightning
The Charts
