First period
- Alexandre Carrier is tasked with defending a two-on-one early. His decision is to take away the passing lane and leave Samuel Montembeault to face Brandon Hagel, and the plan works.
- Montreal hasn’t seen much time in the offensive zone through the first few minutes.
- Christian Dvorak trips and falls over the blue line trying to make a zone entry.
- Tampa Bay is looking strong to start this one.
- Out of the first TV timeout, Montreal responds with a good shift in the offensive zone from the Dvorak line.
- Montreal gets a rare moment for some offence as Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield go on a two-on-one. The captain sets up the top goal-scorer, but the pass isn’t quite in Caufield’s wheelhouse and he can only send it off the pad of Jonas Johansson.
- Patrik Laine drops off a pass for a pinching Mike Matheson on the boards, the defenceman sets up Alex Newhook, and the Newfoundlander puts Montreal in the lead.
Alex Newhook with an absolute ripper by Johansson 1-0 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 6:34 PM
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- Suddenly the Dach line is having offensive success at five-on-five.
- Montreal is also now outshooting the Lightning 7-6 despite a slow start.
- Dvorak doesn’t fall on this rush, but the shot is still easily turns aside.
- Arber Xhekaj decides he needs to hook the hands of Nikita Kucherov even though David Savard is in perfect defensive position. An unnecessary penalty from #72.
- Jake Evans comes very close to scoring another short-handed goal, but Montreal will have to settle for a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Second period
- Xhekaj comes out of the box on a two-on-one with Dvorak. Dvorak does … literally nothing with the puck.
- Tampa Bay ties the game as the puck comes the other way.
- Now Lane Hutson is off to the box for a hook.
- Victor Hedman hits the post on a shot from the point.
- The Habs set up a great chance for Cole Caufield from the slot, but his shot misses.
- Montreal has looked very good since killing off Hutson’s minor. The Habs are now the ones controlling possession.
- Great play by Laine in then neutral zone to steal a puck and relaunch the attack from his own zone. He’s far from just a power-play specialist.
- Tampa Bay runs a pick play which lets Brayden Point skate right to the net for a shot on Montembeault. That has to be blown down for interference.
- Hutson and the top line create three excellent scoring chances on the Lightning. There are at least two infractions on that minute-long offensive shift, but the refs have no intentions of sending a Lightning player to the box today it seems.
- Josh Anderson races onto the puck in the offensive zone and slings it back to the point for Alexandre Carrier. He passes it across to Kaiden Guhle, and Guhle fires past a Brendan Gallagher screen off the stick of Dvorak, and Montreal is back on top.
Kaiden Guhle gets one through traffic and it's 2-1 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 7:33 PM
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- Savard fires a wrist shot right off the right elbow of the net.
- Tampa Bay has no answer for this Montreal push. All they can do is ice the puck right now.
- The relentless pressure finally forces the ref to raise his arm as Caufield is dragged down behind the net for a bout the third time today. Patrik Laine will try to extend the lead to two goals.
- Laine has a long conversation with Caufield ahead of the start of the power play. I wonder what plan they came up with.
- Laine has a couple of shots stopped. Montreal does need to use the right side of the ice a bit more to set him up.
- No goal, but they tired out the Lightning a bit more in their second start in 22 hours.
- … Which lets Evans walk right down into the circle and solve Johansson blocker side.
Jake Evans simply will not stop scoring goals! 3-1 Habs
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 7:44 PM
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- Goals is five straight games. what a run.
- Jon Cooper is upset that the refs missed a high stick. I don’t think he can really complain about the officiating in this game.
- Montreal lets up for 10 seconds after the goal, and Nikita Kucherov gets to a puck sitting behind Montembeault’s pads.
Third period
- Montreal enters the final frame with a one-goal lead. Can they hang onto it?
- Carrier hauled down trying to skate the puck out his own zone. You thought the next sentence was going to be about Montreal heading to the power play, but, alas, it is this one instead.
- It looks like Montreal is just trying to survive some pressure right now. That’s not the way they gout to this 24-17 shot advantage and 3-2 lead.
- Anderson steals the puck and tests Johansson with a close-range shot.
- Montreal’s second line has been looking good, playing in the offensive zone. There’s such a different outlook for this team with that happening.
- As you can tell, they’re not just shelling in their own zone anymore. An important change, and the same way they played the third yesterday.
- Montreal just hit 31 shots on goal.
- Suzuki is sitting alone on the bench after taking a second to get back up on the ice.
- And of course, with Montreal in full control of the game, the ref calls them for a penalty. Newhook goes off for a hold.
- The expected goals are 2.67 – 1.83 for Montreal in this game. Power plays are 3-1 Tampa Bay.
- Montreal keeps the Lightning to the outside, and their lead intact.
- Anderson has to pluck a Lightning stick out of his hip.
- Joel Armia fights through interference to get the puck to the neutral zone. Emil Heineman fights through interference to get the puck over the blue line. He sets up Armia, and it’s 4-2 Montreal. The Lightning are loudly calling for a penalty on Montreal. Tampa Bay is completely delusional.
Emil Heineman stiff-arms Nick Perbix, sets up Joel Armia 4-2 Habs!
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 8:29 PM
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- Kucherov kicks the feet out from under Dach, and has the audacity to complain about it. He should have been given an extra two.
- Carrier comes out with the second wave to provide a defensive safety valve. Not a bad choice.
- Johansson has gone to the bench with about three minutes to play.
- Montembeault robs Kucherov at the side of the net.
- Anderson gets to centre ice and dumps the puck down. He gets onto the puck again and hits the post, and Gallagher is there at the opposite side to make it 5-2.
- Xhekaj sends a shot through the glove of Johansson, but it’s pulled off the goal line.
- Montreal sweeps the holiday Florida trip. What an impressive couple of games. Five wins in six games. This looks like a playoff team.
- Now get out your popcorn for the Lightning post-game comments.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He’s a different player
2) Teams will be giving up first-round picks at the deadline who what he offers
1) I saw a few tears on that one
