Coming off of a huge victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, playing for the second night in a row, and starting their third-string goaltender, it would be understandable if the Tampa Bay Lightning had a bit of an off night. Instead they poured in seven goals and held off a third-period attempted comeback to move within two points of clinching a playoff spot by beating the Montreal Canadiens, 7-4.
The offense was led by Nick Paul and Steven Stamkos who had two goals each while Nikita Kucherov added another three points to his franchise record season total. Matt Tomkins held the fort in the third period after Montreal cut the lead to two goals as he picked up his second career NHL win, both against the Canadiens.
After surrendering the first goal to the home team when Joel Armia swatted home a rebound, the Lightning rebounded with goals from Nick Paul (on the power play) and Mikey Eyssimont. Armia would tie it early in the second, but the Bolts responded with goals by Stamkos, Paul, Brandon Hagel, and Nikita Kucherov over a ten-minute stretch to seemingly put the game out of reach.
With the Bolts on a long power play to start the third, it seemed they took the foot off the gas a little and Montreal made them pay. Juraj Slafkovsky deflected a shot past Tomkins to make it 6-3 and then Cole Caufield added another to make things a little too uncomfortable. A collision between Stamkos and Hagel left Hagel on the ice and the Lightning down one of their better defensive forwards for a few minutes.
The Lightning were already without Tanner Jeannot, who was scratched with an injury, and Anthony Cirelli, who left the game with about five minutes to go in the second period. Hagel did return to the game and the Bolts managed to hang on. Kucherov, at the end of a two-minute shift, made a nice play in his own zone to steal the puck. He was able to clear the puck from the zone and Stamkos finished things off with an empty-net goal.
The strong second period allowed them to hold on after a sloppy start to the third period, but Coach Cooper will be sure to remind them that now is not the time to start developing bad habits. The road trip finishes up on Saturday against a Pittsburgh team that has suddenly found themselves back in the playoff race after they defeated Washington.
[Game Center] [Natural Stat Trick] [Event Summary] [Lines]
The Goals (so many goals)
Joel Armia (15) [Brendan Gallagher, Alex Newhook] 1-0 Montreal
Nick Paul (21) [Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov] Power Play, 1-1
Mikey Eyssimont (11) [Tyler Motte, Matt Dumba] 2-1 Tampa Bay
Joel Armia (16) [Alex Newhook, Brendan Gallagher] 2-2
Steven Stamkos (33) [Anthony Cirelli, Calvin de Haan] 3-2 Tampa Bay
Nick Paul (22) [Mikey Eyssimont] 4-2 Tampa Bay
Brandon Hagel (24) [Darren Raddysh, Anthony Cirelli] 5-2 Tampa Bay
Nikita Kucherov (43) [Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos] Power Play, 6-2 Tampa Bay
Juraj Slafkovsky (16) [Arber Xhekaj, Mike Matheson] 6-3 Tampa Bay
Cole Caufield (22) [Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky] 6-4 Tampa Bay
Steven Stamkos (34) [Nikita Kucherov] Empty Net, 7-4 Tampa Bay
