The Tampa Bay Lightning have leveled their Eastern Conference first round series against the Montreal Canadiens after a 3-2 overtime win in Game 2 at Benchmark International Arena on Tuesday night.
Defenseman JJ Moser's first career playoff goal sealed a one-point win in the series, with the next two games scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Bell Center in Montreal. The goal also ended Tampa Bay's seven-game playoff losing streak in overtime games.
The Lightning dominated the extra period, defeating Montreal 8–0, before Anthony Cirelli scored on a pass in the offensive zone to the right of goalie Jacob Dobbs. Moser got the puck near the left point, worked his way around the right circle and fired through a screen. As the puck hit the back of the net at 12:48, the sellout crowd of 19,092 erupted and the series was tied.
Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov scored the other goals for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy bounced back from an average performance in Game 1 with 25 saves.
Lane Hutson scored a power-play goal in the first period and Josh Anderson scored late in the second period to put Montreal ahead 2–1. Dobbs made 31 saves.
The win at home was a relief for the Lightning, who were 1-10 in their last 11 playoff games in their own building. They lost to the Florida Panthers three times in the first round in each of the last two seasons before losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023. The last time Tampa Bay went beyond Round 1 was in 2022, when they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the finals while trying to win their third consecutive championship.
Lightning even series with OT win against Canadiens in Game 2
The Canadiens had the better of the game early on, holding the Lightning without a shot for more than eight minutes after an early face-off. But Bolt converted his first shot into the opening goal.
Hagel circled into the high slot and shot, but his shot hit a body and landed on the left board. He followed it up and fired again – but this time, the shot went through a screen and past Dobbs at 8:20 to put the Lightning up 1–0.
Tampa Bay got its first power play of the game at 10:11 when Montreal's Arbor Zekaj got an extra minor after a clash with Yanni Gourde. But it was the Canadiens who almost scored; Vasilevskiy intercepted Jake Evans on a 2-on-1 break and the rebound bounced off the feet of Alex Newhook, who was alone but couldn't get his stick on the puck.
Then it was the turn to fill the penalty box. A major scrum behind the Montreal net erupted on the Canadiens power play when referees Frederic L'Ecuyer and Graham Skilliter called out 11 minors – Lightning forward Corey Perry received an additional one.
Montreal made it 4-for-6 with an extra man in the series, when Hutson's straight-up slapper from inside the blue line hit Lightning defenseman Eric Cernak and went past Vasilevskiy at 16:11.
The Canadiens could not score on their next power play after a cross-checking call against Nick Paul at 17:49 and the period ended even at 1–1.
Hegel and the Canadiens' Game 1 hero Juraj Slafkowski dropped the gloves at 5:14 of the second period and earned the first fighting major of the series, with Hegel downing the much larger Montreal forward to end the fight.
The goaltenders exchanged clutch saves with just over six minutes remaining in the period, but the Canadiens began to get the better of the game and took the lead with 1:24 remaining in the period. Anderson, who had scored the opening goal in Game 1, arrived in front of the net and converted the pass to Philippe Danault, who won the puck battle behind the net. Anderson found position between two defenders and beat Vasilevskiy to give Montreal a 2–1 lead.
The Bolts equalized about five minutes into the third period when Moser beat Dobbs but hit the post. They got a power-play opportunity shortly after when Montreal's Ivan Demidov was called for tripping but did not apply much pressure.
But Kucherov electrified the crowd when he took the carom of Cirelli's blocked shot, swung into the back of the net and fired the puck inside the right post at 12:33 to tie the game at 2–2. It was the star forward's first playoff goal in 17 games.
The Lightning had to survive one more threat to get overtime. After Scott Sabourin's unnecessary interference penalty with 2:15 left in regulation gave Montreal a late power play, Hutson slapped a straight shot with less than a minute remaining that went off Vasilevskiy's hand before hitting the post.
Dobbs was brilliant in overtime but had no chance for Moser's game-winner.
Highlights after Lightning beat Canadiens 3-2 in OT
stars come for bolt
As the third period wore on and the Lightning trailed by a goal, you could have eased the tension with a knife. It wasn't nice to think about going 0-2 in Montreal, especially after two more home losses.
But then some of Bolt's stars saved the situation.
Kucherov had gone 16 playoff games without a goal since Game 1 of the 2023 first round against Toronto – before the game was tied. The NHL's No. 2 scorer during the regular season looked like a giant eagle as he swooped in to grab the blocked shot, fly around the net and deposit the puck into the wide-open net because Dobbs couldn't move from right to left in time.
Then it was Vasilevsky's turn. After Sabourin's penalty he made two big stops on Hutson to give the Canadiens a late power play to preserve the tie.
A "Gordie Howe" for Hegel.
This is the 18th time the Lightning are appearing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but Hagel became the first player in franchise history to achieve a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal/assist/fighting major) in a postseason game.
The first period goal was his third in the first two games, and he got a secondary assist on Kucherov's goal. There is nothing surprising in any of this.
This is the main theme of the fight which was out of the ordinary. Hagel only had two fighting majors during the regular season, despite playing on the NHL's most fighting team – the Lightning led the NHL with 43 majors. He was also watching Slafkowski gain about 40 pounds. Despite this, he landed a punch, knocking out the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft before officials stopped the fight.
bang, bang
The series has only featured Hegel-Slafkowski fighting majors during the first two games, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of physicality.
There were 77 hits in Game 2 (43 for Montreal, 34 for the Lightning). This comes after 86 hits in Game 1 (44-42 lead for the Bolts). Tuesday's game also saw 23 penalties, including two fights and 14 minor ones for roughing.
Lightning coach John Cooper said his team was stepped up physically after recent seasons, and said this was due to the development of players like Sabourin, who is known for his physical play.
“These are two proud teams,” Cooper said. "You have to do what you have to do to move forward. No matter how we do it, we're going to do it."
