- The Lightning deserve to lose this game just for picking that singer for O Canada.
First period
- With the arena about as loud as when the Canadiens introduce their training camp in the home-opener, the puck drops in Game 1.
- A collision between Arber Xhekaj and Dominic James sends the Lightning forward to the ice writhing in pain. It looks like Tampa Bay is down to 11 forwards early.
- The Canadiens leave the slot completely abandoned and left Erik Cernak step up to the hashmarks for a shot. Jakub Dobeš shoots out to cut down the angle and makes the stop on the most dangerous chance of the game so far.
- At the other end, Juraj Slafkovský catches Andrei Vasilevskiy drifting a bit and forces the goaltender into a bit of an acrobatic stop for his first of the game.
- Alex Newhook gets sprung on a two-on-one and opts to shoot, but the puck goes of Vasilevskiy’s toe.
- The Canadiens have settled into this game after the Lightning came out quickly on home ice, starting to hold the majority of the possession.
- Montreal has been the better team the last five minutes.
- Tampa Bay is getting the first penalty of the game, a too-many-men call, perhaps the result of having to balance just 11 forwards now.
- They won’t be forcing the puck to Cole Caufield now. Everyone is on zero goals just looking for a lead in this road playoff game.
- The top unit can’t get the puck over the blue line to get set up.
- With the second unit out, still with Lane Hutson on the blue line, the puck gets across the crease, but deflected away from Kirby Dach at the last second.
- They didn’t score on the power play, but the fourth line that gave the Lightning fits in the two games down the stretch opens the scoring. Josh Anderson gets the puck in the slot. With Vasilevskiy anticipating pass, Anderson shoots near-side and opens the scoring.
- Newhook tries to add a second goal, but has to reach behind him trying to grab the puck and he gets the skates of Conor Geekie instead. Tampa Bay will have its first power play.
- Tampa Bay is trying to get the Nikita Kucherov-Darren Raddysh connection, but the high forward does a good job of taking it away, and the penalty is killed.
- Slafkovský gets into some space in the offensive zone and then plays the puck to the boards. In the same motion, Emil Lilleberg’s stick was knocked out of his hands, and Slafkovský is getting called for interference. Not even slashing.
- Brandon Hagel runs interference on Kaiden Guhle in the offensive zone, and will go to the box. As he was being interfered with, Guhle’s stick was levered into the face of Brayden Point, and Montreal actually ends up with the extra two minutes in penalties with a double-minor.
- Nick Suzuki takes a hard slash in the dying seconds as he’s killing the penalty, and has some words for the ref who was standing 20 feet away as he skates off after the whistle.
- A strong period for Montreal after surviving the opening minutes, and the shots are bit misleading considering two stops Vasilevskiy made didn’t actually get credited as shots that were on a trajectory to go in the net.
Second period
- The Lightning power play comes to a quick end as Alexandre Carrier is high-sticked by Kucherov, sending the game to four-on-four.
- It only had 30 seconds to work with, so the top unit launched several chances on Vasilevskiy. They need to do more of that with a full two-minute power play.
- Montreal is now making the Lightning look as slow as they did in the final two games of the regular-season series. with their skating and quick puck movement.
- A minor scrum breaks out after Dobeš makes a save, and Yanni Gourde sees it as an opportunity to skate over and punch Hutson in the face. Anderson comes over to get back at him, and both Anderson and Gourde will go to the box.
- The Lightning can’t touch the puck at the moment. Montreal is winning every race to loose pucks.
- Anderson tips in a second goal of the game. The refs deem it a goal, but now they will review to see if his stick was high. They determine it was, and the goal comes off the board.
- They shouldn’t be fazed by the call. They have the Lightning on the ropes.
- Jake Evans and Anderson combine to hit Charle-Edouard D’Astous behind the hit, and the Lightning defenceman seems to have taken the full force of the hit. They’re reviewing for a five-minute major on Anderson, but I can’t imagine it will stand. There was nothing vicious about the play, just unfortunate the Evans’s head happened to be there for D’Astous’s to bounce off of.
- He gets called for two minutes for charging, and that’s still a bad call. There was nothing wrong with what Anderson did. He got two minutes for playing too hard.
- The refs are doing what they can to drag the Lightning into this game.
- Evans’s stick breaks on the penalty kill, and he can’t defend Raddysh the way he wants to the. The one-timer setup comes, and the Lightning tie the game on their fourth power play.
- Twenty-nine seconds later, Tampa Bay takes the lead as Hagel walks out front and sends a backhand past Dobes, and the building really comes alive.
- With 88 seconds to go, the Canadiens have earned a power play with a cross-check right to Hutson’s face from Geekie. Time for the special teams to come through.
- It does in a big way. The top unit gets about eight scoring chances, three shots on target, and a goal from Slafkovský.
- A needed recovery, and a blueprint of how to treat every power play for the remainder of this post-season.
Third period
- Alexandre Texier gets room all alone at the top of the crease and takes a backhand shot that Vasilevskiy can’t corral, but the puck trickles wide.
- The third line generates a flurry of chances, requiring a sequence of saves from Vasilevskiy.
- Slafkovský gets pulled down as the top line tries to keep the momentum up, and will do so with another Canadiens power play.
- Now for the same relentless attack they had to end the second period.
- Plenty of shots on the power play. Exactly what you want to see. And it’s helping that Suzuki is winning the vast majority of his faceoffs.
- Martin St-Louis clearly likes what he’s been seeing, because he leaves the top unit on the ice after the puck was cleared to Montreal’s zone. The decision is immediately rewarded with Slafkovský’s second power-play goal of the night.
- The Lightning are getting a little angry with how things are going right now, a typical development late in their games versus Montreal.
- Zachary Bolduc one-hand taps the stick of J.J. Moser as he plays the puck in, and it breaks. It’s another power play for the Lightning
- Tampa Bay scores on the power play. Brandon Hagel has his second of the night to tie the game 3-3.
- Demidov’s tipped shot just glances off the side of Vasilevskiy.
- Jake Guentzel makes a bone-headed decision to whack at a puck that’s six feet high and slashes Guhle in the ear. Montreal has a power play with 20 seconds to play in regulation.
- No late winner, but they will be on the power play for 1:40 in overtime. And it won’t be a four-on-three.
Overtime
- I don’t know what they’re doing, but they’re not showing nearly the urgency they did on their earlier power plays despite a chance for the winning goal on offer.
- St-Louis calls his timeout to refocus everyone for what might be the best opportunity to win Game 1.
- Again the coach’s strategy finds paydirt. Slafkovský is given too much time at the left faceoff dot, and rips his third goal of the game past the glove of Vasilevskiy.
- Montreal gets the win it was looking for to start out this best-of-seven series.
- They will go for another one on Tuesday night, aiming to go home with a 2-0 series lead.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) They’re not afraid of the Lightning
2) Nothing wrong with a little improv
1) Big-game performer
