Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy did everything he could to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round series on Friday night at the Bell Centre. This was not enough.
Vasilevskiy denied three Montreal breakaways in regulation, but he never saw Montreal defenseman Len Hutson's slap shot from the right point as it passed multiple bodies and into the net 2:08 into overtime to give the Canadiens a 3–2 win and a 2–1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Alexandre Texier, who opened the scoring early in the first period, flicked a shot back to Hutson, and the 2025 Calder Trophy winner produced a rocket that found its way through a half-dozen bodies and into the net.
Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel scored for the Lightning. Hagel's goal early in the second period put Tampa Bay ahead 2–1, but Kirby Dach put the Canadiens even at 12:43. Vasilevskiy finished with 26 saves on 29 shots; Montreal rookie Jacob Dobbs faced only 17 shots and stopped 15.
This was the third consecutive overtime game in the series, the first for the Lightning since entering the NHL in 1992. The Canadiens had not gone to OT in three straight playoff games since Games 2, 3 and 4 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals – they won all three en route to their most recent championship. It was the first time that an NHL playoff series began with three straight overtime games since the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals did so in 2021.
The teams split OT wins in Games 1 and 2 at Benchmark International Arena, with the Canadiens winning 4–3 in the opener and Tampa Bay taking the series with a 3–2 win in Game 2. The Lightning have not won consecutive playoff games since the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers.
They will try to even the series on Sunday night in Montreal.
The sellout crowd of 20,962 was roaring from the moment Canadiens legend Yvan Cournoyer took the torch to lead Montreal onto the ice. This became even more intense when his heroes gained a quick lead.
Zach Bolduc moved the puck to the right circle and saw that Texier was late in the middle, with no Lightning defender there to pick him up. Bolduc fed a pass onto Texier's stick for a perfect shot from the slot that took the top corner past Vasilevskiy's glove at 4:53, giving Montreal the lead 1–0.
But this lead did not last long. Dobbs was called for fouling Yanni Gourde, and the Lightning capitalized at 7:42 when Point found space in the slot, took a pass from Jake Guentzel and one-timed it into the net for a 1–1 tie.
The Lightning got another power play 30 seconds after the goal when Dach was called for tripping but produced very little power. Montreal had a good chance after Nikita Kucherov took an unnecessary tripping penalty at 12:23, and the Lightning again failed to convert after Mike Matheson took a hooking penalty at 19:11.
Tampa Bay dominated the game for the first few minutes of the second period and led 2–1 at the 4:47 mark. Hagel picked up a pass from Jake Evans in the neutral zone, raced to the left circle and surprised Dobbs with a quick shot that beat him on the short side for his fourth goal of the series.
Vasilevsky maintained the lead just over a minute later by stopping Montreal rookie Ivan Demidov on a breakaway. Demidov, who led all NHL rookies with 62 points during the regular season, gave the Lightning their fourth power play at 9:59 when he carelessly high-sticked Ryan McDonagh, but Tampa Bay could not take advantage.
This set the stage for the Canadiens to even the score. Vasilevskiy blocked Dach from the slot, but the puck went along the right board. Dach tracked him down and fired through the maze of bodies; Vasilevskiy never saw the puck, which deflected off McDonagh and into the net at 12:43, making the score 2–2.
Tampa Bay spent most of the remaining period killing penalties. Hegel was called for holding a stick at 14:05, Emil Lilleberg was sent for hooking at 16:14 and Darren Raddish was called for a high-sticking minor at 19:29.
Montreal outshot the Bolts 13–7 in the middle period, and Tampa Bay did not have a single shot on goal until the final 13:25.
Vasilevskiy was the biggest reason the Lightning forced overtime despite being outshot 21-11 in the final two periods, including 8-4 in the third when he faced two more breakaways.
Cole Caufield, the 51-goal scorer during the regular season, came in alone at 3:29, but Vasilevskiy came out to challenge him, but was unsuccessful. Josh Anderson took a breakaway pass coming out of the penalty box midway through the period, but Vasilevskiy did not fake the pass and made a wrist save from his close range.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bolts applied little pressure on Dobbs and had only three high-danger scoring chances over the course of 60 minutes. Hutson's game-winner came on the only shot in overtime.
Key takeaways after Canadiens top Lightning in OT to win Game 3
wasting a precious gem
The Lightning couldn't have asked for anything more from their future Hall of Fame goaltender. They did everything but stand on their heads as Hegel's goal put them ahead 2–1, despite managing all five shots on goal.
Dach's tying goal came after "Vesey" made a big stop on him – and as was the case with Hutson's game-winner, No. 88 never saw the shot due to the series of bodies in front of him.
Tampa Bay did almost nothing offensively after the first five minutes of the second period and only the play of Vasilevskiy gave them a chance to win.
Hagel and linemates need help
The Lightning scored eight goals in the first three games of this series. Hagel has four of them, assisted on the fifth and has been on the ice for all eight. For good measure, he also became the first player in Lightning history to get a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal/assist/fighting major) in Game 2.
His goal in Game 3 was an unassisted gem, ending with a spectacular shot that completely caught Dobbs by surprise.
Hegel and his teammates, Guentzel (five points, all assists) and Nikita Kucherov (four points; one goal, three assists) each had 14 points. The other three in a row combined have three (point goal and two assists) by Anthony Cirelli in Game 2. This is not a formula for playoff success.
too much punishment
The Lightning's penalty-killers could use the day off before Sunday's game.
Tampa Bay did a great job of shutting down all four Montreal power plays in Game 3, including three in a span of just over five minutes in the second period. They limited the Canadiens to five shots on goal during four shutouts and were generally successful in keeping Montreal out. This was a huge change from earlier in the series, when the Lightning surrendered four power-play goals on the Canadiens' first six opportunities.
But eight minutes of power-play time for the Canadiens meant Tampa Bay had to keep top offensive players like Kucherov on the bench. He played only 41 seconds over the course of 9:59 spanning the second and third periods – most of which Tampa Bay played down a man. Not having your top players in tie games is no way to be successful, especially in the playoffs.
