Juraj Slafkovsky took a big hit from Ryan McDonagh in the second period. After that, he scored three power-play goals to lift the Montreal Canadiens over the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3, in Game One of the first round of the playoffs. All three of Slafkovsky’s goals came on the power play as the Canadiens converted three-out-of-five opportunities.
The Lightning tied the game in the third period with their second power play goal of the game, but with the loss, they picked up their tenth playoff loss in their last eleven home games. It was also their seventh straight overtime loss. Hagel had two goals in the defeat while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 15 saves on 19 shots. Jakob Dobes picked up the win with 20 saves. Jake Guentzel had three assists while Darren Raddysh also scored for the Lightning.
The Lightning started the first period with a couple of young players on the fourth line as Conor Geekie and Dominic James drew into the line-up. It was James’ first game since suffering a lower-body injury against Buffalo at the end of February. It looked like he might have re-aggravated it early in the game following a collision with Arber Xhekaj in the Montreal zone, but after missing a couple of shifts in the first period, he would return to the game.
Tampa Bay, who have been playing from behind for most of the last part of the season had some early chances, but Jakob Dobes was equal to the task. Following a failed power play for Montreal, the visitors drew first blood. Alexandre Carrier forced a turnover down low behind the Lightning net and Josh Anderson was all alone in front. His shot beat Vasilevskiy over the glove, and the Lightning were in a familiar spot – down 1-0 – before the first twenty minutes were over.
It didn’t help that they had three power-play opportunities that generated some chances, but not goals. As play headed into the second period, the Lightning were doing a lot of good things in limiting Montreal’s chances while generating some of their own, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Despite having the run of play, it appeared that they were down 2-0 when Anderson deflected a puck past Vasilevskiy midway through the period. However, a review showed that Anderson’s stick was over the crossbar when it made contact and the goal was disallowed. That led to perhaps the best stretch of play for the Lightning in regulation.
Anderson went to the box on the next shift after he was whistled for a charge on Charle-Edouard D’Astous, who was already engaged with Jake Evans behind the Lightning net. Unfortunately, for the Lightning, D’Astous would not return to the game after the hit. The Lightning finally connected on the power play when Darren Raddysh put one off the blocker and past Dobas to equalize the score.
Twenty-nine seconds later they took the lead when Jake Guentzel forced a turnover behind the Montreal net and Brandon Hagel slid one past the goaltender on his backhander. The lead would stand until the end of the period when Ivan Demidov set up Juraj Slafkovsky with a Kucherov-like pass. Slafkovsky hammered the power play goal past Vasilevskiy with just 24 seconds left in the period.
It would be Slafkovsky on the power play early in the third that gave the Canadiens the lead as he scored from slot. Brandon Hagel tied it with his second goal of the game at the nine-minute mark as Guentzel found him on the back post on the power play.
A late penalty by Guentzel game the Canadiens one-minute and forty seconds of power play time to start the overtime period. With a clean sheet of ice the Canadiens had an early look at the net. Following a stoppage in play just 59 seconds into the overtime session. Nick Suzuki won the face-off and Slafkovsky beat Vasilevskiy cleanly with a wrist shot from the left circle.
The Goals
Josh Anderson [1] (Alexandre Carrier) 1-0 Canadiens
Darren Raddysh [1] (Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel) Power Play, 1-1
Brandon Hagel [1] (Jake Guentzel, Ryan McDonagh) 2-1
Juraj Slafkovsky [1] (Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield) Power Play, 2-2
Juraj Slafkovsky [2] (Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki) Power Play, 3-2 Canadiens
Brandon Hagel [2] (Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov) Power Play, 3-3
Juraj Slafkovsky [3] (Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki) Power Play, 4-3
The Charts
