The Tampa Bay Lightning knew the danger coming in — the Montreal Canadiens' power play was clicking at 28 percent on the road, second best in the NHL. Staying disciplined and avoiding the penalty box were keys to victory.
They didn’t. And Juraj Slafkovský made sure it cost them. Three times.
The 22-year-old completed a hat trick 1:22 into overtime and the Canadiens beat the Lightning 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round NHL playoff series on Sunday.
Game 2 is Tuesday night at 7 p.m., again at Benchmark International Arena, where Tampa Bay has lost eight of its last nine home games in the postseason.
Slafkovsky's game-winner came on a slap shot from the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to the far side. Montreal went on the power play when Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel was called for high-sticking Kaiden Guhle with 21 seconds left in regulation.
“We took four offensive zone penalties,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “That wasn't overaggression. That was stupidity. That was a game that we just gave them an opportunity to win, and this is the Stanley Cup playoffs. This isn’t game 62, so that is extremely disappointing in the way we conducted ourselves and the amount of penalties we took.”
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Montreal finished 3-for-5 on the power play.
"Now let’s be honest," Cooper said. "(Montreal) went 3-for-6 or whatever it was? So if you’re going to kill penalties off at 50 percent, then you’re probably not going to last very long.”
The loss was particularly frustrating for the Lightning, who outside of the penalty kill mostly outplayed the Canadiens. They limited Montreal to only five shots on goal through 36 minutes and 19 shots overall — seven by Slafkovsky.
“The opportunities that we gave them, the number of penalties we took, is not a recipe for success, regular season or playoffs," Tampa Bay defensemen Ryan McDonough said. "They were able to run a lot of plays and feel the puck out there, and certainly the PK has to step up and do a better job.”
Brandon Hagel’s power-play goal — a tip-in off a precise pass by Guentzel 8:58 into the third — tied it at 3-3 a few minutes after Slafkovsky's second power-play goal put Montreal ahead.
Earlier, Slafkovsky one-timed a perfect seam pass from Ivan Demidov into the net from the right circle to make it 2-2 in the final minute of the second.
“We knew they had a good power play. We got to execute on the penalty kill, it’s pretty simple,’’ Hagel said. “It starts with myself and it starts with (Anthony) Cirelli. It’s our job to kill penalties off. And we didn’t do that.’’
Slafkovsky became the first player in Canadiens history with three power-play goals in a playoff game.
“It was pretty nice. I like that feeling,” Slafkovsky said after picking up the Canadiens' first playoff hat trick in 12 years. “But we don’t want to go to overtime; hopefully we can close out games before that. I’m happy the way it happened, but we’ve still got to focus before next game.”
Montreal’s fourth line gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead in the first when Josh Anderson flipped a top-shelf shot into an open net.
Darren Raddysh tied it at 1 with a powerful slap shot on the power play in the second. The Lightning quickly went ahead 2-1 just 29 seconds later when Hagel picked up a loose puck from the side of the net and backhanded a shot past Dobes.
Vasilevskiy, who faced only four shots in the first period, stopped 15 for a .789 save percentage.
A favorite for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender, Vasilevskiy lead the NHL's regular season with a 39-15-4 record, ranked second with 2.31 goals-against average and was third with a .912 save percentage.
Montreal rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 20 saves.
“(Slafkovsky) probably won us the game,” Dobes said. “He has been so good for us. In the big moments, he wants the puck. He’s a big-time player. I’m really proud of him."
The Canadiens, coached by Lightning icon and Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis, are seeking their first Stanley Cup since winning their NHL record 24th in 1993. They haven’t won a playoff series since the Lightning beat them in the Cup Final in 2021.
The Lightning have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round three straight seasons after falling two wins shy of a three-peat against Colorado in 2022. And they are now 1-11 in their last 12 overtime games in the playoffs.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
SERIES SCHEDULE (best of seven)
- Game 1 – Canadiens 4, Lightning 3 (overtime), Montreal leads series 1-0
- Game 2 – at Tampa on Tuesday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2, WXPX-The Spot)
- Game 3 – at Montreal on Friday, 7 p.m.(TNT, WXPX-The Spot)
- Game 4 – at Montreal on Sunday, 7 p.m. (ESPN, WXPX-The Spot)
- Game 5 (if necessary) – at Tampa on Wednesday, April 29, Time TBD
- Game 6 (if necessary) – at Montreal on Friday, May 1, Time TBD
- Game 7 (if necessary) – at Tampa on Sunday, May 3, Time TBD
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