Coming off an impressive 5-1 home stand, the Tampa Bay Lightning embarked on a four game road trip looking to build upon their recent success. They started strong with a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the first game of the trip.
Game Flow
The Lightning started slow, allowing the Canadiens ample time in the zone and a few good scoring chances. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was sharp though, stopping every shot sent his way until Nick Suzuki broke through seconds into the third period.
Brandon Hagel continued his hot streak, getting behind the defense and firing the puck past Montreal netminder Jake Allen almost three minutes in for a 1-0 lead.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Nick Paul scored off a rebound to make it 2-0.
In the middle frame, the two teams combined to take nine penalties. Each team killed off the first penalty against them, but a four minute double minor to Jake Evans gave the Lightning a brief 5 on 3. Six seconds after the two man advantage expired, Anthony Cirelli poked the puck past Allen for a 3-0 lead.
With Josh Anderson off for cross checking, Hagel got a piece of a Victor Hedman shot and redirected it to make the score 4-0 after 40 minutes.
Montreal came out on a mission to begin the final frame. That caught the Lightning off guard and they gave up two glorious scoring chances. Suzuki broke Vasilevskiy’s shutout 16 seconds in. Vasilevskiy then stoned Cole Caufield on a breakaway to keep things from going south.
From there, Tampa Bay regained their footing. Nikita Kucherov got a late goal to make it a 5-1 final.
Game Notes
- The Lightning win their fifth straight game to move within three points of Toronto for second place in the Atlantic Division.
- Brandon Hagel has his second consecutive two goal game.
- Anthony Cirelli scores his first goal of the season.
- Steven Stamkos collects two more assists but remains three goals shy of 500 for his career.
- Nikita Kucherov has another multi point game, with one goal and one assist. His 34 assists tie him with Connor McDavid for the league lead in assists.
Next Up
With another two points in hand, the Lightning will travel to Toronto looking to get within one point of second in the division when they battle the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, December 20. Puck drop is set for 7pm EST.