Coming off an emotional win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked to get another win to put an exclamation point on their reunion weekend when they hosted the Martin St. Louis coached Montreal Canadiens Saturday night.
The Canadiens had other ideas though, pressuring the Lightning into mental mistakes and turnovers. The result was a 5-4 shootout loss.
Game Recap
Straight out of the gate, the Canadiens controlled play by forcing turnovers and then jumping onto the attack. Lightning backup goaltender Brian Elliott made a number of amazing saves, including one that will be shown on highlight reels for awhile to keep things in check.
Finally, the Lightning broke through. Nikita Kucherov made a beautiful pass to Steven Stamkos in front of the net and the captain didn’t miss, firing the puck past Canadiens netminder Jake Allen to make it 1-0.
Less than five minutes later, newcomer Nick Paul continued his hot streak by feeding Anthony Cirelli. Cirelli crashed the net and scored short handed to give the Bolts a two goal lead.
The middle frame saw both teams combine to score five goals. Cole Caufield got the Canadiens on the board when the Lightning defense fell asleep, giving the rookie sensation a 2 on 0 with trade deadline acquisition Rem Pitlick.
Not long afterwards, Jordan Harris was penalized for playing without a helmet. That gave the Bolts a power play. A minute into the opportunity, Kucherov restored the Lightning’s two goal lead at 3-1.
The Canadiens refused to go away though. In his 18th NHL game, Corey Schueneman scored his second goal off the face off to make it 3-2. Two minutes later, Josh Anderson got a step on the defense and buried the puck behind Elliott to tie things at three.
With the period coming to a close, Brayden Point scored a power play goal to put the Lightning up a goal at 4-3.
Heading into the final period, the Lightning needed to clean up the mistakes that plagued them during the first 35-40 minutes in order to win. That didn’t happen, with Jesse Ylonen tying the game at four early in the final frame.
From there, the game went into overtime. Both teams had opportunities but both Allen and Elliott said no. That sent the Lightning and Canadiens to a shootout. Point, Kucherov and Stamkos couldn’t get the puck past Allen, while Nick Suzuki beat Elliott to give the Canadiens the 5-4 win.
Game Notes
- The Lightning’s four game winning streak was snapped by a Canadiens team that has played better under interim coach Martin St. Louis.
- By going to overtime, the Lightning have nine out of 10 points in recent games.
- After tallying three points against the Blackhawks on Friday night, Nick Paul added another point by assisting on Anthony Cirelli’s short handed goal.
- The Lightning power play continued its recent hot streak, scoring twice on the man advantage.
- At 93 points, the Lightning are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs but are third in the Atlantic Division based on having one less regulation win. They are only two points ahead of the Boston Bruins though, making for an interesting final month.
Next Up
With the weekend of reunions out of the way, the Lightning’s focus shifts to an important week for playoff positioning. That begins when they host the Maple Leafs on Monday night, April 4. Puck drop is set for 7pm EST.